Deal or No Deal
by Jamille Shane
Summary: Commander Rekar of the Tal'Shiar, in disgrace, finds he has been ordered to do something distasteful to get back in the good graces of his superiors. Can he do it? And will he learn a lesson about humans in the process? Post Dominion War. Romance/Drama, but some humor.
1. Rekar of Romulus

_A/N - Several of my behind the scenes friends (ladies, you know who you are!) have encouraged me to get out my muse for a Romulan. This story begins on Deep Space 9, but the main Romulan character, Commander Rekar, was featured in the Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle", so he is canon. In my alternate universe, Vreenak still lives, lol! I don't know where this story will go, I just need to have some fun in my life right now. Sometimes stretching your legs in an unfamiliar place helps you write better when you go back to your other stuff. So this is my personal tackling fuel. I'm writing from the hip, so I'll probably update every other day until this tale is done. Here's to fun!__  
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_Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I do not own Voyager or Deep Space 9. I'm just borrowing Rekar from Voyager and playing with him on DS9!  
_

* * *

Rekar was more than annoyed. He stood on the upper deck of the promenade of Deep Space 9 wondering how he was going to take care of this latest hiccup in his career. It was late and there was barely anyone about as he stood looking out of a wide window, waiting for the sight of the wormhole to open.

The unsuccessful hijacking and delivery of the prototype starship Prometheus to the Tal'Shiar had gone terribly wrong. After his capture by Starfleet he had been held, temporarily, as a prisoner of war. They had given him back to the Tal'Shiar almost immediately. But the humiliation was too much to bear. He had been strongly urged to retire and was now no longer an active commander. His superior that had ordered the stealing of the Prometheus had not even taken the full brunt of the heat for that decision. Rekar had been brought back into the intelligence organization, but not exactly with open arms. Failure, after all, was still failure.

The Tal'Shiar, since the end of the Dominion war, had decided they were amenable to becoming allies with the Federation. And they were using Rekar as some kind of pawn in a sick game, according to his point of view. They all had to show there was no animosity concerning them, and in particular, himself toward humans. And he had been ordered to find a human female to openly woo in order to appear to have gotten over his dismissive nature toward them.

To be told to do something so distasteful to him was inconceivable. Human females were nothing more than soft, simpering weaklings with no will of their own and as far as he could tell no code of honor. If it wasn't that he was eager to return to his life on Romulus, he would have no part of this. But he had been told to do so in order to make things 'right' with their sudden human friends.

As he stood there, pondering exactly what it was he was going to do, his attention was drawn by the strangest of sights. Walking toward him was one of those human females. She seemed to be at a high point misery as she approached his position. She wasn't paying any attention to him at all because she was in the unenviable situation of a pronounced limp from the broken heel of one shoe. It made a strange creaking sound as she walked. She seemed to be simmering in anger while she held the broken part of the heel in one of her hands. He wondered why she simply didn't remove the defective footwear entirely.

By the time she reached his position, he realized she was quite small in height without the added heels and wondered if she were even at the age of majority. But looking at her body, in particular her overflowing cleavage in the low cut top, it was apparent that she was in fact an adult. Her brown skin was smooth and her hair was pulled up into a clasp as a dark tumble of silken curls hung down her back.

Some part of him, he did not understand why, was moved to ask, "Are you in need of assistance, human?"

The human female turned and looked at him only once. Her almond shaped eyes narrowed as she gave him the most disgusted of looks. She just rolled her eyes at him and actually sucked her teeth as she turned her face from him and kept on walking.

She didn't even give him the courtesy of speaking to him in return! She acted as if she were above him in some way.

Rekar found himself fascinated, angered and annoyed as the human just kept walking with her broken shoe limp having never answered his question. She didn't look back at him once or regard him in any way, either, as if he were of no consequence at all. As she disappeared out of sight he wondered who this girl was who dared not answer his question and who appeared to think she were better than him, Rekar of Romulus, even in her obviously lowered state of being.

* * *

_Interested in more story? Please review and let me know if I'm barking up the wrong tree, here!_


	2. A Bad Bad Day

Jamie Lee woke up the next morning and wondered what the day would bring. She saw her broken shoes peeking out of the garbage can in her room and felt anger all over again. Those shoes had been a pair of her favorites.

The day before had been nothing short of one long joke. Her job on the promenade was turning into some kind of disaster. She wasn't exactly surprised by that since the uniform she was required to wear to work in that establishment was a ridiculously low cut top and high heels, but at least she was able to wear pants.

Then her shoe had broken during the last ten minutes of her shift. Her boss had some kind of a grudge against her and docked her half an hour's pay for not being able to rush around. It made no sense to her since he wouldn't even allow her to take her shoes off and finish the shift barefoot. She would have been able to, at least, move faster.

And then, just when she thought her night of horrors was finally over, that Romulan had been standing there on the overlook part of the station watching her limp back to her place. Her face burned with humiliation while the whole thing was happening, and even her shoe was in on the joke, making that weird creaky sound as she tried to get back to her quarters in one piece.

She did her best to pretend she didn't see him standing there, staring at her. He then had the nerve to keep staring and then asked if she needed help. It wasn't that he had offered help, either, it was how he had addressed her, the way he'd called her 'human'! She heard how he'd said that word, like it was a curse, '_Human_'.

Her life had been coming apart, bit by bit, in the past three months. Her boss back on Earth had basically shut her out of her old job by drying up her research editing contracts. She had been a good fact checker, but her quality of work had nothing to do with why he had blackballed her. Truthfully it was because she wouldn't sleep with him. When he'd told her he would ruin her and make sure she never worked in that town again, he'd really meant it.

It had taken her nearly a month to travel to DS9, but fortunately her cousin had been eager to room with her. Then she had a hard time at first even getting a job on the station, but she finally started working at the restaurant a month before. She hated it. She had had restaurant jobs before and none of them had been like this. Just the week before, the boss had scolded her because she had poured a drink into the lap of a patron who had touched her inappropriately. She was just fed up with everything and everyone.

She went to stand and greet the day, but when she put weight on her right foot, the foot that had been in the broken shoe, she felt a sharp twist of pain and almost fell over. "Ouch!"

##

"It's not broken," Dr. Bashir said as he continued to scan her ankle. "It's only sprained but it's very swollen."

Jamie Lee sighed. "What a relief."

"You're not off the hook," the charismatic doctor said with half a grin as he pulled out a scanner to help mend the ankle. "You have to stay off of this leg for an entire day so it can finish healing properly."

"I have to go to work tonight, Julian."

He began the mending process. "I'll stop into the restaurant and let them know your unfortunate accident from yesterday has affected your leg and you can't return until tomorrow." If it were up to Julian, however, she would never set foot in that place again. The owner operator was a real chauvinist pig.

She sighed tiredly. "Thanks."

"I've called your cousin to help you get home. I'd site to site you to your quarters, but they're having some kind of issue with the transporters."

"I'm sure Rom is on it."

##

Rekar had caught sight of that arrogant female from the night before not three minutes ago. He saw the back of her disappearing into the habitat ring. Jake Sisko had seemingly been helping her to walk. He didn't know why, but he was annoyed by that. He was annoyed by her and everything about her and he had yet to speak to her! She would not take his help the night before, but she would take the help of some _human_ male!

He was just outside of Quark's when the owner walked out of his establishment. "You, Ferengi!" he addressed him. "Who was that female that just walked past here with young Sisko?"

Quark knew an opportunity when he saw one. "How much is it worth to you?" he asked quickly.

Ordinarily, Rekar took his information from his targets, he did not request it. But this time he was desperate. He grudgingly gave the Ferengi a slip of latinum.

Quark looked down at the pitiful sum in his hand. "That just gets you one piece of one story. How much of that story do you really want?"

Rekar put two more slips of latinum into the Ferengi's hand.

Quark shrugged. "If that's the way it is. She's also a Sisko. Jamie Lee. Jake's her cousin. Have a nice day."

"That's it?" asked Rekar.

"That's what three slips of latinum gets you, a given name, a family name and one known relative. Have a nice day," he said again with pointed finality as he pocketed the paltry slips of latinum and walked away.

But Rekar was actually strangely satisfied. So young Sisko was her cousin, that was the reason she had consented to take help from him. He knew then that he had run into her for a reason. She was who he needed to woo publically, the niece of the missing in action Benjamin Sisko. And he already had an angle into her life starting later on that night. The circumstances were almost too perfect.

He set off back to his quarters for the time being. He had some research to do on this Jamie Lee Sisko.

##

"Jake, thanks so much for helping me back home," she said as she sat down on their couch. She felt relief in her ankle the moment she took her weight off of it and put her feet up on the couch.

He placed a pillow under her ankle as she sat there. "If you need anything, just give me a call. I'll be taking a quick day shuttle down to Bajor in two hours, though, to do an interview there with one of the monks at the Kivas Monastery. I can get you anything you need before then." He pressed a hypo to her neck. "Julian said give you that as soon as you sit down. Here's another one for before you go to bed," he put it on the end table.

"I'll be all right. I just have to try not to walk on this leg too much for an entire day."

"Need me to replicate you anything before I go?"

"No, I'm good." She smiled up at her cousin. It had been great to spend time with him these last few weeks. She knew he had been lonely since his father had disappeared. He hadn't wanted to intrude on Captain Yates, so he had taken quarters on his own. When Jamie Lee had first shown up out of the blue, he insisted they room together and they'd been able to get a two bedroom place on the habitat ring.

He seemed to think about something first and then sat down carefully at the end of the couch. "Jamie, you still haven't told me what happened. Why did you leave Earth like that?"

She didn't want to tell him or anyone else what had really happened. "I just decided it was time to do something different, that's all."

Jake knew that was not true. Something had gone wrong. "Well it's great to have you here, anyway," he said as he stood. He didn't want to push her too much to find out what had happened. "I have an interview tonight with someone here at the station and they're going to meet me here at our quarters. My editors would kill for this story, but I'll be about ten minutes late getting back because of the runabout schedule. Can you let him in and give him a drink or something before I get here?"

"Sure, what's his name?"

"Rekar."

"Okay, that's fine."

"By the way," said Jake on his way out of their quarters, "he's a Romulan, so don't be surprised or anything when he shows up."

As the door closed behind him, Jamie Lee had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She had only seen one Romulan on the station these days, and it was that same arrogant obvious human-hater from last night.

She looked up at the ceiling and groaned. "It's already a bad bad day…"


	3. He's Kidding Himself

_A/N - I tried to update last night, but my internet connection turned into a screaming brat, lol! I told several of you I would update last night, so my gift? Here is this update and later today I will also give you chapter 4! Thank you so much, guys, for your reviews and support for my first time venturing into the land of Romulans._

* * *

Rekar went to Jake Sisko's quarters a little early that evening. He wished to get into the young man's good graces ahead of time so that he would formally introduce him to his cousin as soon as possible. He had had the day to research the young woman. And what he found impressed him.

Jamie Lee Sisko was no mere restaurant wench. She was a respected research editor who had mysteriously left her job on Earth and come to Deep Space 9 a little less than three months ago. After reaching his contacts on Earth -he had just concluded speaking with one of them not an hour before- he thought he knew what it was that had happened with Jamie Lee. And if her situation were what he suspected, she had more honor than he thought humans were capable of.

He now had a solid plan in mind that would be mutually beneficial. It would help them both get back the careers they so desperately wanted to reclaim! He pressed the chime and waited two seconds and then the door slipped open.

He was shocked as he saw the female herself waiting for him on the other side. He felt as if fortune just kept literally dropping into his lap since meeting her. She looked as if she were less than happy to see him, but he knew her opinion of him was about to change drastically. He was her means of escape from a now-mundane life!

"I am Rekar," he said as if it were the most important piece of information she could have. He was so determined to get into the door he forgot about the way the doorways on the space station were built. He failed to lift his foot and step over into the room and found himself tripping and suddenly sprawled on the floor face first.

She ran to where he was at and found herself trying not to laugh. "You're early," was all she said as she tried and didn't succeed in suppressing her laughter.

"Infernal doorway," he exclaimed as he stood. "Terrible station design!"

"Are you okay?" she asked, her face finally serious.

He hurriedly stood back up to his full height and smiled down at her. "As to my being early, it is good to be punctual but even better to be early."

_Who does he think he is, some kind of teacher or something? Guy can't even walk upright properly and he thinks he's going to give me some lessons. I have to be nice to this jerk so Jake won't lose this interview. Be nice, be nice…_ "Feel free to sit down, please. My cousin will be here in about twenty minutes. He's already on a runabout from Bajor and he just sent me a message. They're on final approach and should be docking soon."

He noted she was being polite, but she wasn't smiling at him. Weren't human females excessive smilers? Did this mean she was just holding back from being rude? His blood was beginning to boil, but not in anger. Her rudeness was borderline attractive. This was how a woman should behave toward a male that was not related to her! Not rude, but also standoffish. She was in danger of becoming the perfect woman in his eyes.

He sat down on the couch and was surprised when she went to the replicator and then looked back at him. "Would you like a drink, Commander?"

His chest stung a little at that title since it was, at this point, only technical. Though he had been forced to retire, he was still called 'Commander' because of his previous service. But he was distracted, but as she turned his back to him again, he couldn't help but survey the very curvy body of the petite woman across the room from him. It almost hurt to look at her! She stirred something within him, all right.

He realized, then, she had called him by his title. He had never brought his title up to her! Perhaps Jake had told her? No. She would have addressed him as such as soon as he entered the room. He suspected she knew who he was. She was a fact-checker, after all!

He found his grin spreading as he realized, she had most likely spent the day fact checking him with her own connections while he had been investigating her! "Yes, please. I will take one of your human drinks. I believe it is called a Long Island Iced Tea. It is barely tolerable compared to Romulan cocktails, but it will do."

_Be polite, be polite!_ She forced herself not to roll her eyes and ordered it for him from the replicator. It wouldn't do for her to be rude to him and then have poor Jake pay the price by losing this interview, she kept reminding herself of that over and over. She brought him his iced tea then sat as far away from him as she could, across the room in a comfortable chair.

Rekar found himself staring at her. She was practically glaring at him. She looked as if she were tolerating him in her space. She would be a true challenge and he would enjoy every twist and turn. "How is your leg, this evening? I saw your cousin helping you home earlier."

She nodded. "Much better." She thought of him falling as he entered the room that evening. "Hopefully it won't be you by tomorrow. That looked like a pretty nasty spill you took."

"No, I am Romulan. Such a small slip would not alter my physical being."

She wanted to take his drink and pour it on him. Instead, she smiled tightly at him.

"May I ask why you are here?" was his next question.

"I happen to live here."

"In these quarters?" he asked.

"Yes."

He saw she was not going to say anything extra to him to further this conversation. It was going to be up to him to push things where they needed to go. "I am a plain-spoken man," he declared with an oh-so-serious face. "I say what I mean at all times. And I have a proposal for you, if you will."

Jamie Lee wondered what in the world this guy was talking about. "Okay?"

"I shall tell you what I know and what I need. You may ask me anything you wish during this conversation. It does not mean I will answer it in full, but you may ask. By then, your cousin shall arrive. I will have my interview with him and then tomorrow we will speak again after you have had time to, as your people say, sleep on it."

She folded her arms and gave him a very suspicious side-eye expression. _Please, oh please, whoever is listening, please do not let this guy get freaky up in here with me. I'm just trying to mind my business and live!_ "I don't know you and you don't know me. What could you possibly have to propose that's decent?"

"I know you are no mere restaurant worker. It is beneath you, we both know that. You must wish to return to your old position, is that not true?"

"A job is a job. Honest legal work is never beneath anyone," she said just holding back her anger. "Everyone can't be an intelligence agent, you know." She was a little upset at that point because she honestly did not like her current job and she felt as if she should be grateful she had been able to find it. But on the inside, she was not. Well he was the last person she was going to tell that!

He paused for a couple of seconds. "Your old employer, did he do something inappropriate toward you?" he asked.

She knew then that he had figured it out somehow. No one else had, but he had. "What's it to you?" she shrugged as if she didn't care. But really she did. Her stomach was still in knots over what had happened.

So it was a fact! As he stared across the room at her, he realized the female was quite attractive. More than just quite attractive, she was enrapturing. It made it better that she seemed to have a healthy sense of self. She was almost as dignified as a Romulan!

He understood, then, her appeal to her former employer and why he most likely felt he had to have her in his bed or otherwise out of his sight. As a result of that last fiasco, she was probably now extra cautious and correctly so. Her instincts were excellent. He knew he was in danger of becoming a true admirer of this one, but he would be able to maintain a wall between them. He was, after all, who he was! "What your former employer did was despicable. Turning him down, leaving the way you did—I find you to be admirable in many ways. But onto my proposal, you could easily have your old position back and I can return to Romulus if I am seen with you."

She scoffed at him as she continued to sit there, arms still folded. "Let me guess. Your superiors want to make nice with the Federation so you date the niece of Benjamin Sisko to cement ties with us?"

He found himself smiling even wider. "You are very intelligent," he said slowly as if it were a huge turn-on. "I did not know such intelligence was possible in a human."

She found herself shaking her head and muttering under her breath, "It's like I'm some kind of talking horse to this guy." She was just holding onto the edges of her temper.

"Jamie, please. Your cousin will interview me and you will research edit his ensuing article before he hands it in. That is at least your reentry to your old position, is it not?"

It wasn't exactly her old job function, but he had her right there and he knew it. She paused and simply looked at him. "You know, it's going to take more than just one article for me to go back to my old position, right?"

"I will give you this opportunity for free," he said. "It is my condition for your cousin's interview. You are his editor. Whether you accept or deny what it is I want, you can keep that piece of work. But I can give you so much more."

She regarded him carefully. She was still wary. "And exactly what is it you want in return for this 'so much more'?"

"I simply wish to be seen in your company for a short time," he said as he stared at her across the room.

"My company in public is _all _you're going to get, if I agree," she let him know immediately.

"I know," he said. "It is what I admire about you."

She had a feeling he was telling the truth. And that bothered her for some reason. "So I have to be seen with you. What exactly is in it for me?"

He stood and crossed the room then, kneeled down before her, looked up into her eyes. They were a peculiar shade of medium brown, almost amber in color. He hadn't realized that before. "I will give you sole rights to speak with me at anytime in future as a source to corroborate facts within the Romulan world, your main source, straight from Romulus, a lifeline to the Tal'Shiar."

That was huge. She knew it, too. She sat there and simply looked at him in shock. Her career. She could have it back. And with a contact like him, it was true, she could have so much more professionally than she had had before.

He stood then, went and sat back down on the couch. "Think about it," he said as his eyes halfway flirted with her across the room.

Almost on cue, Jake stepped into their quarters then, a smile on his face. "Thank you for waiting, Mr. Rekar."

The two sat down to speak as he answered, "It was more than tolerable since I had your enchanting cousin here to converse with." Jamie stood to leave. "You do not have to depart," Rekar called after her.

"I should go," she said as she turned and went to her room. "Dinner's on save in the replicator, Jake."

As soon as she disappeared into her room, Rekar looked at the young man and smiled. "I have spoken to your cousin and she has agreed to be your research editor for this interview."

He smiled. "Thanks! She doesn't say it, but I know she misses her old job."

"Do you know why she left?" he asked the young man to find out if she had even told her cousin.

The young human shook his head a little sadly. "She won't tell anyone anything. I know she hates that job at the restaurant, but-" he shrugged, "it been nice seeing her again. We saw each other a lot up until my dad came here to Deep Space 9. Nog's gone back on active duty and my dad's gone now." He paused for a couple of seconds and then cleared his chest. "So she's here now and we take turns helping Kasidy with the baby when she needs to go out on her ship and do runs. It just works out, you know?"

Rekar found himself admitting to the young man across from him, "I find her fascinating."

Jake seemed taken aback. "My cousin?"

"She is simply a relative to you. But to me, she is a very beautiful female."

Jake wanted to laugh, but didn't. "All right, but if you want to get anywhere with her, or any woman, stop referring to her as 'female'. Women hate that. At least most Federation women do."

Rekar looked at young Sisko in surprise. "I did not know that." He thought about that for a few seconds more. "I am now ready to proceed with the interview," he said almost imperiously as he folded his hands on his chest.

Jake found himself smiling a little, but on the inside he was laughing. If this man thought he had a chance with his cousin, he was kidding himself!


	4. Pointy Ears Are Attractive

Jamie Lee didn't know what it was exactly that was bothering her about Rekar's deal, but it bothered her very much. Something about it just didn't feel right. She knew there were a lot of people that would jump on it, but she had trouble putting her finger on why she was hesitating.

She left her room to bid the agent good-bye on his way out. He held eye-contact with her for a couple of seconds before he left. At least this time he remembered to step up out of the room on the way out!

She went to bed that night after the commander left. She didn't know exactly what had happened to him politically, but it had to have been bad for him to need to do something like this. She did feel great about getting a shot at being the research editor for Jake's interview, but no matter what spin she put on the rest of his proposal, she couldn't shake the feeling that something about it was just wrong.

She was barely able to sleep, at first, but was finally able to drift off when she exhausted herself with all of the possibilities if she took the deal or if she did not. It forced her eyes closed, in the end, and she was out cold.

###

After her shift at the restaurant the next evening, Jamie went to the Bajoran temple on the side of the promenade. Jake had told her how he thought his father was in the wormhole with the aliens… the Prophets. Whoever they were. Sometimes she went to the temple just to feel like she was close to him. No one was around, and she found herself saying in an almost whisper, "Uncle Benjamin, can you hear me? I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'd like to have my old job back, but- but not this way. It's so simple, what I'd have to do. But why does it feel wrong?"

She said nothing more for a time, simply sat and thought awhile. As she sighed while standing, she turned to leave. There was a Vedek at the rear of the temple. She hadn't seen him there before. As far as she could remember, she had never seen him on the station. He must have been new. A lot of Vedeks were now clamoring to serve at the last known living place of their emissary.

"I'm sorry for being here," she said to him as she was on her way out. "I know I'm not Bajoran or anything but I just needed to- I don't know what I needed."

"All are welcome, but especially the family of The Sisko are always welcomed into the arms of the Prophets," he answered with a kindly nod.

For some reason, that made her feel better. Almost like magic, her confusion cleared right up and she made up her mind about what she was going to do on the spot. "Thank you, Vedek." She left the temple, determined to get this over with.

She had gotten a message from Rekar earlier about where he was staying on the station. He had extended an invitation to her to drop by any time she wished, so she went and met him at his quarters. She didn't know how she already knew he was at least trustworthy enough to be met in private this way, but she had a hunch about him and she knew he wouldn't hurt her. From the way he talked about humans and other aliens, he was probably disgusted by having to stand so close to so many on a daily basis as it was. In that light, she knew she was safe with him.

"Good evening," he said with a welcoming smile as she entered his quarters.

"Sorry I'm stopping by so late."

"It is no trouble at all. I don't require as much sleep as you do."

She squinted at him and gave him a dirty look. Instead of sitting down, she simply stood. She was here for a reason, after all, and she thought it best to just say what needed saying and then go.

"So, Jamie, what do you say to what I've offered you?"

She sighed and couldn't believe she was going to say what she was about to say. "I'm sorry, commander, I can't do it."

He looked honestly crestfallen and the shock on his face was clear. "What?"

"Commander Rekar, I was brought up to help people without thought of getting something in return. And it just-" She shook her head. "Every time I think about any kind of a deal with you to further my career, I just feel _wrong_. I can't even put my finger on what it is that bothers me, but when I get this feeling in my stomach, I leave things alone."

"I receive what I need and you receive what you need. What is wrong with that?" he asked, mystified. "There will be no physical contact, no sharing of bodies or even touching of hands."

She wondered what he meant by 'touching of hands' but decided to leave it alone for the time being. "Thank you for making me Jake's research editor for his interview with you. I can tell you're probably in some kind of a bind. You probably did something on orders from some superior, I don't know what that something was, but it most likely blew up in your face. I don't really want to know what exactly happened since it's none of my concern and most likely classified anyway-" She shrugged. "You're a real pain in the neck, with your insulting words toward humans and everything-"

"Insulting?" he asked, confused.

"- but it was nice of you to offer to do something for me instead of demanding like you're probably used to."

He was taken aback. This is not how this was supposed to go.

Seeing the look on his face, even if he was an annoying jerk, made her feel badly. "How about this? I'll go out with you on exactly two or three dates in public. That's enough for you to be seen with me. As to a job, I can find my own. To tell you the truth, I probably could have found something out here by now away from Earth in my old career, I just didn't even try."

He stared at her for what felt like forever. "You would help me anyway, though I can tell you scarcely wish to be in the same room with me and for nothing in return. Why?"

"You gave me a chance on the article whether I said yes or no to your deal. I assume you did that because of my references?"

"In fact, yes, that is the reason I want you to be the editor. I have seen your work. You're careful. You don't make errors. Your fact checking is meticulous. This is admirable to me."

She nodded as something inside her warmed just the slightest toward him. It was the first time she felt like he wasn't being condescending toward her. She found herself looking at him as if with new eyes. Okay, so he was a nice jerk.

He saw her sincerity in wanting to help him anyway and found himself falling into her eyes. "You may take my reference, you know. That is free. I offer it sincerely and fully at this time."

"And what if two or three dates aren't enough? You retract that offer?"

He found himself mysteriously not as tied up with returning to Romulus as he had been before. "No. You can keep it come what may."

"Thank you, Rekar, but it won't be necessary after all. I won't be needing it." At that moment, she felt profoundly better that he wouldn't be giving her anything in return for her help. "I should go now." She began to go toward the door.

"You don't have to," he said, hoping she would stay.

She smiled, but on the inside she was confused as to why he would want her to stay. "I'm just a pitifully weak human and I'm tired after a long shift. I have a baby to look after in the morning, too."

"Yes, Jake's young sibling via Captain Yates," he said as he followed her to the door. "Sleep well, Jamie Lee Sisko."

"You too."

"Shall tomorrow evening be our first date?"

She smiled back at him. Sooner was better than later to get this all over with. "Sure. I'm not on the schedule for work tomorrow, so send me a message with the details."

"That, I shall do," he said as she left his quarters. As soon as she was gone, he realized he might be in trouble. This human was a little too fascinating for his comfort.

##

"You're going on a date with _who_?" Jake asked, eyes wide.

She sighed. She should have known her cousin would be shocked. Under ordinary circumstances, she wouldn't have gone out with the guy. But she actually did feel badly for him, so would this be considered a pity date? Whatever it was, no one could know she was just allowing herself to be seen with him. It had to look real for his sake otherwise what was the use of helping him?

She shifted little Lisa to her hip. The five month old baby then began to try to eat a couple of strands of her hair. She pulled the handful of hair out of the tiny fist and then handed Jake his little sister. "You don't like him?" she asked.

Jake couldn't tell whether he particularly liked Commander Rekar or not but he had been around military types all of his life and he could tell a dangerous man when he saw one. Even though Jamie Lee was a little older than him, he was now physically bigger than her and he couldn't help but feel protective. "Jamie, why are you doing this really? He's not even your type."

She smiled. "Jake, I have to let you in on a girl secret."

"What's that?" he asked as he rocked his baby sister.

"Pointy ears are just so _attractive_," she broke down and admitted. It was the only part of the Commander she liked… those ears and his eyes. His eyes were almost spell-binding. Almost.

"Okay, you can say whatever you want, but I think this is just weird."

"That's okay," she shrugged as she selected a dress. "I also think Bajoran nose ridges are hot."

"I agree with that one," he said with a wide grin.


	5. From Pain In The Neck to Pain Free

He went to go and pick her up from her quarters for their first outing. As soon as the door opened, Rekar's mind was blown away. He surveyed her from her feet to the top of her head. After three seconds, he finally spoke. "You are stunning," he halfway whispered as his eyes held hers.

She was wearing her little black dress, one of the only things she had brought with her from Earth. The dress itself wasn't too 'little' in that sense of the word. It came to her knees, after all, but a pair of heels accentuated her very nicely shaped legs and the cut of the precisely tailored dress emphasized every good thing about her. Light make-up and a tiny bit of jewelry complimented her natural beauty, while her fall of very dark curly hair flowed freely down her shoulders and back.

That nervous feeling in her stomach grew worse. She suspected Rekar really did find her attractive, after all, despite her being human. She saw he was still wearing a uniform, but this one looked different from his usual one. Dress uniform, perhaps? "You look… nice," she forced out.

They both heard a chest clearing and turned to look at Jake standing there with the baby in his arms. "I hope you two have a good night."

"We will," Rekar said.

"But not too good," Jake said as he pointedly looked right at the commander.

"What?" Jamie asked, horrified at what he might be thinking.

"You know what I mean," he said, but he was still looking directly at Rekar. He had never given anyone a hard look in his life, but he was tired of losing relatives. So he stared the commander down. "No disrespect, sir, but you better bring her back home the right way."

Rekar nodded. "Yes, I shall treat her with respect, young Sisko."

Jake looked over at Jamie Lee then and broke into his usual smile. "Just doing my job. Neither of our dads are here."

She couldn't even be mad at him when he smiled at her like that. "Good-night, Jake." She then caressed the cooing baby's cheek. "Good night, Lisa. Don't keep your big brother up all night long."

Rekar and her walked out of the room. The door swooshed shut and they began walking down the hallway together. "I suspect he's not going to sleep anyway until I get back home," she said with a smile and a shake of her head.

"Your cousin has a deep regard for you," he observed.

"That's my Jake," she said with an easy smile. "I love that boy."

"Ah yes, the human emotion of love," he said, halfway scoffing. She was not perfect, after all. She ascribed to that weak sentiment!

She stopped right in her tracks. "You hold it right there, mister," she said.

He stopped and looked down into her eyes. They sparkled like embers of fire. He was entranced all over again.

She began to tell him off. "If you want this date and the other ones to go well, I would highly_ suggest_ you stop mentioning these unflattering things about humans."

"What about it?" he asked, confused. "Are you or are you not human?"

"Yes, but you say it like it's a dirty word or something. _ Human_!" she repeated it the way he often said it.

He had honestly never noticed that about the way he said the word. "I see your point."

"Thank you." And they continued walking then. But he wasn't saying anything else, not even so much as an apology. She prompted him, "So?"

He found himself smiling down at her. She was little, barely five feet, but already he could tell she was such a force to be reckoned with. "So what?"

"So what are you going to do about your little human prejudice factor? You can't have a human girlfriend for the public and still wear that on your sleeve."

"Am I or am I not superior to you in every way?" he asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world to point out.

She stopped walking yet again and now her hands were on her hips, her purse clutched tightly in one hand. "Oh?" she asked as she looked up at him.

He saw that look on her face and it began to dawn on him that perhaps he was in something like quicksand. But he continued to press his case. "I can see well in the dark, I can run faster, go without sleep longer, heal faster without intervention, I require less nutrition in cases of emergency… I am superior in every way and that you cannot deny."

She felt her temper rising. "Rekar, I'm this close to turning my inferior self around and going back home right now."

He truly didn't know what it was he was doing wrong. "Stating facts is offensive to you?"

"No, rubbing someone's face in something is the part that's offensive! And if you were _so_ superior you wouldn't feel the need to keep talking about it and keep making those nasty comments about humans all the time!"

"So exactly what is your estimation of what would make me a superior man, in your eyes?" he asked, still confused as to what was so offensive about his words.

"Shut up about your superiorities for goodness sakes! There are other forms of superiority, you know, and humility is one of them."

"Humility?" he said as if it, too, were a profane word.

"Yes, that superior quality you happen to not be in possession of!"

"And I suppose you have some of these superiorities that I do not possess?"

"I happen to think I have a few!"

"List them, then," he challenged.

"No! That's a stupid thing to do!"

He was blindsided by those words. "You think the way I speak of myself is nonsensical?"

"It's stupid _and_ infuriating!"

He didn't believe her. There must be something about him that had captured her attention in addition to his obvious superiority! "Then why are we going out together this evening? Why would you help me for nothing in return despite the fact that you find me infuriating?"

Her hands dropped from her hips and she looked just plain tired. She found herself confessing, "Because life has been terrible for me lately and when I look at you, I see you're in the same spot that I am right now. You're stuck somewhere you don't want to be doing stuff you don't want to do because you're at the mercy of someone else and I know that that's a terrible feeling. And I wanted to help someone else out of that position, even if they weren't human like me and even if I would still stay stuck right here. But you know what, you're right, you are superior, so you don't need my inferior help!" she finished with a wag of her head and she turned sharply, about to storm back to her quarters.

He reached out before she could get far and gently but firmly put both of his hands on her shoulders, stopping her in her tracks. "Please, don't go," he found himself almost begging.

She halted and sighed heavily. His hands on her shoulders had the nerve not to feel offensive! "Rekar, why do you have to make it so hard?"

He could hear the exasperation in her voice and he found himself swallowing back regret. All he seemed to do was upset her. It was not his intention at all. "I don't know."

"So why shouldn't I go back home right now?"

He looked down at her lovely black river of hair. It was curly. He barely ever saw curls in the Romulan world. They were another part of her he found so very enchanting. "I need you. And I think in a way you need me, too."

"Because you're just so superior?" she scoffed.

He flinched as he abruptly spun her around. His hand lifted her chin so she could look up into his eyes. "No! Because as you say, we are trapped in the same place in our lives. And since we, at this time, know more than anyone else how the other feels perhaps we may-" he paused, nervous, "perhaps we may actually enjoy one another's company," he continued speaking with an earnest expression on his face. "You are a beautiful-" he remembered Jake's advice and instead of 'female' said, "—woman. I no longer _care_ that you're human. I simply find you compelling in ways I still do not understand," he said passionately. "The time here in your Federation that I get to spend with you will be an honor that I shall never have again, that I am sure of. You are made of the highest qualities and I doubt there is anyone else aboard this station that could measure up to the woman that is 'you'."

It was not at all what she expected to come out of his mouth and she found herself stupefied into silence.

"Please, Jamie, accompany me tonight on the evening I have planned for us," he said with full sincerity.

She nodded. "All right, Rekar. We can still go on our date."

##

They walked through the Promenade together. They barely spoke, but they found one another looking at each other over and over again in a strange way. She was confused by his words earlier. It was now obvious to her that he genuinely liked her on some level. Yes, she was confused.

She noticed the looks they were attracting. It wasn't out of the ordinary, she knew, for people on DS9 to date other races and species. But she thought it was the shock of seeing Benjamin Sisko's niece with a Romulan. She actually found herself wanting to laugh out loud at the looks on some of their faces.

They came to Shakaar's, a high end establishment on the nicer side of the station. Jaime Lee never thought she would set so much as a pinky toe in the place. How was the commander able to afford this?

"We don't have to go here," she found herself whispering to him. "It's too expensive." She didn't think it was right he waste this much money on a fake date.

"My dear," he said as he looked down into her eyes. "I want to give you the best while I can."

She shook her head at first, her confusion mounting. "All right," she relented.

They entered the establishment together and he informed the maitre d', "I have reservations. I am Commander Rekar," he said.

"Right this way, sir," said the head waiter as he led them to their seats immediately.

Muted lighting, soft music, plush carpeting and candlelight greeted them. The quiet ambience of the place was relaxing to them both. They sat down together behind strategically placed columns and potted floor plants and were immediately given menus.

"May I take your drink orders?" said another waiter as soon as the maitre d' walked away.

Jaime Lee sat there thinking _now that's fast!_

"Yes, I will take a bottle of your best Bolian port and two glasses," Rekar ordered for them both.

The waiter nodded, "At once, sir."

She looked across the table at him as the waiter left and she couldn't help but smile at him. "Would you like to cut my food for me later, too?"

"It is not polite in your culture for the male to order for the female?"

"Maybe like four hundred years ago it was."

"I apologize," he said sincerely. He had, yet again, offended her! "Will you consent to trying the Bolian port with me, please?"

That was better. "Yes, I'll try it."

"And I will not be ordering your dinner this evening?" he asked, just to be sure.

"No," she said. Her smile was genuine then, because he did seem to actually be trying to do better at reigning in that condescending attitude of his when he was around her. She looked down at her menu. She shouldn't be feeling nervous, but she still was.

##

It was a surprisingly pain free night. After their dinner at Shakaar's, he took her to sit in Deep Space 9's botanical gardens.

"If you could go back to Earth right now, what would you do?" he asked her.

She smiled as she closed her eyes and imagined it. "I'd go to my grandpa's restaurant and have a plate of his shrimp etouffee and just talk to him. And then I'd take a transporter home and see my mom and dad, hang out with my sister before I go to sleep. Go to bed in my old room," she opened her eyes as she felt tears breaking free. She felt instantly ridiculous. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't-" She turned from him and looked in her bag, pulled out a kerchief and wiped her eyes with it. She turned back to him, a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

"Do not be," he said with full understanding. "I miss Romulus very much at this time. I wish I could go to my home and-" he realized that even when he was back home, he was hardly ever at home. He was always working. And when he wasn't working, he was running everywhere to take care of other matters for his superior that hadn't backed him after the Prometheus incident. "It's unimportant at this time. I'm here with you now," he said sincerely.

She felt a deep tug of discomfort as some other part of her melted at those words. What was happening inside her concerning the commander? She stood quickly, alarmed. "I should get home now."

"It is quite late," he said as he stood disappointedly. "I will bring you home before your cousin calls station security on me."

"Thank you," she said as she laughed.

##

They stood at the door and smiled at one another. "Thank you for the date, Rekar. It was really nice."

"No, I thank you for accompanying me," he said sincerely.

"Good night."

"Good night, Jaime," he said, but in his mind, he thought _my Jaime… This woman is mine…_

She stepped into her room and found Jake lying down on the couch still awake with the baby asleep on his chest. "Hey!" he greeted in a whisper. "How were things?"

"It was actually a very nice date," she said honestly. "We started the night out with an argument, though. Isn't that a shocker?" she laughed.

"Was he a gentleman?" asked Jake.

She laughed at him. "Jake, I'm older than you! I don't have to tell you that!"

"I know, but you're such a little lady!"

"You better be glad you're holding that baby!" she laughed as she went to her room to shower and change.


	6. Second Date

_A/N - Warning! This chapter is kind of long! It's the longest one I've written so far for this story and probably the longest one I'll write for a while again!_

_Fanfic had a glitch on Saturday when I uploaded chapter 5 so it took aalllll day for it to show. Make certain you didn't miss that chapter before reading this one! Thank you to everyone that has sent me reviews. The weekend was crazy so I'll be able to get around to responding them sometime today!_

_Jackiemack and Loretta J.: You guys often review via the 'guest' tab and I can't respond to you directly, so I want to say right here in this spot, thank you guys so much for following my stories and popping in to review on a regular basis! I appreciate it so much when I see your names on my screen.  
_

_Disclaimer: I don't own DS9, Jake Sisko or the family name 'Sisko'! I'm just taking them out for a spin!_

* * *

She awoke the next morning to find Jake walking into her room with the baby in his arms. "Kassidy will be here in four hours to pick up Lisa. I have to go to Bajor, though, and do a second interview with that monk."

She put her arms out and said, "Give her to me. Has she eaten yet?"

"I just changed her and fed her." He placed the baby in bed next to her and said, "Thanks! Her bag with all her stuff is right near the replicator," as he made his way out of the room.

She looked down at little Lisa who was already getting drowsy with her stomach full of milk. She tucked the baby into the crook of her arm and pulled out her PADD. As the baby began to fall asleep next to her, Jamie Lee joked, "I'm up now and you get to go to sleep, kid?" She decided to go into her messages to see if she had any new ones. To her surprise, she found one in there from Rekar.

_"Would you be amenable to meeting me for I believe the word is 'brunch' today at 11:00?"_

She wondered if that would be considered their second date. She thought about the night before. Once they had ironed out some differences and he had been very clear of exactly how positively he thought of her, it had turned into a very nice night. Besides that, he truly had been a gentleman, hadn't tried to touch her in any way… except with his eyes. She felt as if his eyes were touching her every time he got that strange look in them she couldn't figure out. She found herself smiling just a little. He did have nice eyes, after all.

She decided on the spot to not think about it too much and just do it. She looked over at her bedside chronometer. It was past 8:30. She looked down at the sleeping baby, then. "You want to crash a date, kid?"

She messaged him back that she would meet him on the promenade at 11:00. She got up and took the opportunity to get herself ready while the baby still slept.

##

Rekar saw her coming toward him and his heart began to speed up. It was no mystery to him any longer what he truly thought of Jamie Lee. He resolved to keep the depth of his feelings to himself and enjoy the time he had with her. When he returned to Romulus, it would be a memory that would keep him satisfied with the emptiness of his life. For the time being she was his.

What was that she was wearing on the front of her? Was that the infant Lisa Sisko? And she was also wearing a large bag on her shoulder. It looked to be entirely too heavy for her.

When she made it to where he was standing, he saw she was indeed wearing the baby in a sling. The child was wide awake and alert, but looked supremely comfortable hugged up against her older cousin. "How are you?" she asked him with a smile.

"I am fine. I see so is she," he said as he looked down at the very calm infant.

Jaime Lee smiled. "She likes the sling a lot, so I just wear her when I have her."

"That isn't detrimental to your back?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I have no idea. Whatever keeps her from crying is all good to me."

He couldn't help but notice how normal and maternal she looked as she carried the baby on the front of her, one arm wrapped around the child, holding her close. It was an appealing sight and he found himself wanting to see her swollen with his child. He was surprised at that unexpected thought.

As he thought about it more and more, he wanted very much to create children with this fascinating woman. But perhaps it was a near impossibility. Could this human woman even make children with him? And besides, he would never foster a child upon her without first tying her to him permanently. Another part of him said, 'why not tie her to you permanently'? In all his years he had never met a female, Romulan or of any other type, who fascinated and captivated him as much as this woman walking next to him.

They walked the promenade together trying to decide together where they would have brunch.

"What about there?"

"Substandard service," he waved it off. "And that establishment?" he offered in turn.

"Their rice is terrible!"

He couldn't get the point out of his mind about how heavy that ridiculous looking bag must be on her shoulder. He reached over and took the baby bag from her and put it onto his shoulder. It was surprisingly heavy! He was glad to have relieved her of it.

If their date attracted a little bit of attention the night before, this outing attracted a whole lot more. As it was, it was midday, and there were more people out on the promenade during midday than at any other time. Some people were really staring at them.

The best part was that Rekar recognized one of the people watching them from afar. He was from a well known news agency and he seemed to be tripping over himself just to get footage of the two of them. The man must have been on Deep Space 9 on his way to someplace else since these were not his usual stomping grounds.

Pictures of the two of them walking together, her with a baby, him with a bag decorated with bunnies and giraffes with bottles full of formula and diapers sticking out of the sides would be splashed everywhere within the day. He looked down at her. "Mission accomplished," he mouthed with a smug grin.

Jaime followed where his eyes were looking and she saw the same newsman that she also happened to know, only in passing, from her old job on Earth. She also grinned. "Dabo!" she whispered excitedly as she looked back up at Rekar and the two of them began to laugh together conspiratorially. It felt good to accomplish something, even if it was kind of devious and misleading.

"Come, let us go and find an eating establishment."

As they walked up the promenade a little more trying to get to a place they mutually agreed upon, they passed Jaime Lee's current job.

Her boss was standing outside of the restaurant and very rudely gestured for her to come over to where he was standing. Rekar found he did not like that at all, that this male could so easily claim obedience over a woman such as her. He was a human male with a too-clean cut face, very well groomed hair and his too-impeccable clothing style. His face was borderline ugly. It was obvious from the look in his eyes that he found Jamie Lee very attractive. This male had no idea, but he was already standing on dangerous ground as far as Rekar was concerned.

Jaime Lee veered over to where her boss was standing and asked, "What's going on?"

"Are you coming in tonight?" he asked.

She frowned. "I wasn't on the schedule for tonight, I just checked my messages."

"You are _now_," he said. Then he seemed to intentionally look up at Rekar with a smug expression on his face.

Jaime's face almost screwed up into a grimace. "Did someone call in sick or something?" she asked.

"No," he said. "I just think we need more girls in and you're it."

"You mean I'm the one that happened to be walking past at the moment," she said, deadpan.

"That's pretty much it," he confirmed with a full rapid nod.

"If I may," said Rekar. "I believe the young lady has plans for the evening… with me. You do not need her, not truly."

Jaime looked up at Rekar as if he had lost his mind. Then she looked back at her boss. She really didn't appreciate the way he had sprung this on her. He hadn't even asked if she would take the shift, he had told her to do it. She was suddenly very sick of the bosses in her life thinking they owned her just because they signed her paycheck. "If you ask me to take the shift, I'll take the shift," she said in a nicer tone of voice than she felt like using.

"If you know what's good for yous, you'll get yourself here tonight like I said."

Just then, the baby chose that moment to begin to wail. Jaime took her out of the sling and turned her around fully, facing her outward. She began to rock her a little trying to get her to quiet down. Usually that helped her to settle down when she would start to fuss. The only time it didn't work was when her stomach was just upset.

"Really?" It was the final straw for Jamie Lee. "I'm not coming in because I'm not on the schedule and_ you_ didn't ask. If you want to fire me, fire me." At that precise moment, the forward facing Lisa decided to spit up and it landed right on her boss.

The man jumped backward, shocked at the baby spit-up that had landed on his perfect suit. Jamie Lee didn't care. "Hmm, that's exactly how I feel about you right now," she commented. The shocked look on his face would be etched in her mind all day. She looked at Rekar and commanded, "Let's go."

Rekar dutifully followed behind her, impressed by her strong words. By the time they reached the restaurant they had both agreed upon and sat down, Rekar noticed she was not looking like she felt too well. "You are upset?" he asked.

She nodded. The baby was now resting in the crook of her arm. She seemed to be much happier since throwing up on her boss. "I did a dumb thing," she admitted. "I need that job. I shouldn't have spoken to my boss that way." She sighed tiredly. "I have a terrible temper sometimes," she confessed.

"No!" he protested, quite upset. "It is he who should not have spoken to _you_ in such a way. You were proper to return him to his proper place! If you wish it, I will send a couple of men to him after hours. He will wish he never demanded you to-"

"Oh my goodness, that's the most thuggish thing I've ever heard!"

He frowned. "I should not do that?"

"No!" she said, exasperated. "Do you do that on a regular basis?"

"That is not my branch of service," he clarified. "However, I find myself feeling as if I would do anything to prevent your mistreatment."

She looked at him, obviously surprised. She took a bottle out of the baby bag and asked the waitress, whom was an acquaintance of hers, to please bring some hot water so she could heat it up.

Once the bottle was heated, Rekar watched her coax the nipple into the baby's mouth. He saw her stare down at the baby lovingly and whisper, "There you go. You were hungry, huh?"

That image flashed through his mind once again of her midsection ripe with his heir. He found himself moving to sit closer to her. "Jaime, why does it have to only be two or three occasions we are together?" he asked.

She looked up at him, confused. "We've been seen. That's what was needed, right?" she whispered.

He nodded and backed off of the suggestion. "I suppose you are correct."

They were slightly awkward after that for about five minutes, but then they both relaxed around one another, again.

##

Once she dropped the baby off with Kassidy, Jamie Lee went walking for a little while. She had a lot on her mind and she was trying to make some decisions about whether she should quit the restaurant… if she wasn't already fired. That wasn't the only thing on her mind.

At one point, she looked up at the port window and saw Rekar standing there, watching the wormhole. Something inside her was happy to see him and she was just slightly alarmed. He turned just then and saw her looking up at him. There was something of a solitary smile forming on his face as they looked at each other. She found herself smiling at him in return and giving him a little wave. His smile grew into a real one then and he gestured, asking her to wait there for him. She nodded her agreement.

She leaned on the wall just outside of Quark's and sighed heavily. She was waiting here for Rekar and she was a little bit thrilled. She knew all eyes would be on them once again and something about that was just the slightest bit exciting.

She had always been the quintessential good girl. She had gotten good grades, listened to her parents, never snuck out of the house, had always done the right thing. She had never even so much as kissed a guy until she was seventeen. But now she was an adult. And in her estimation, it was about time she gave everyone around her something to talk about. Yes, it was most thrilling to be the center of something that appeared to be scandalous!

"What are you doing out here staring at the wormhole?" she asked him as he finally approached her. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but he was starting to be quite handsome in her estimation.

He shrugged, "It is a more than a motivating sight, don't you think?"

_You wouldn't think so if your uncle were in there…_ "I don't watch it anymore," she admitted. When she first got to the station wormhole watching had been an almost obsession. Maybe Uncle Benjamin would come back one day if she watched and wished and begged long enough? Jake of all people had to talk her out of it and said he had gone through the same thing when his father had first disappeared the year before. She knew his pain had to be much worse than hers, though.

"I suppose living here on the station, it must lose its novelty after a time."

"Amongst other things," she said cryptically.

"And may I ask," he said as they began walking side by side once again, "what are you doing out here? Where is the baby?"

She smiled up at him for asking about Lisa. "I dropped her off to her mother. And I'm out here trying to decide if I should go into work tonight or if I should formally quit."

"I vote that you should quit."

She looked up at him, a sassy smile on her face as she planted one hand on her hip. "I didn't _ask_ for your opinion!"

They both laughed at her words for a couple of seconds and neither one realized that at that point, they began walking just a little bit closer together.

"May I say, I found you to be an excellent caretaker of that child," he observed.

She was flattered. "Thank you."

"She is beautiful. I see the family resemblance between all of you Sisko's, yourself and Jake and the baby. There was a time I thought all humans looked alike." He wondered if he had perhaps said too much and looked down at her to gauge her reaction to his words.

She found herself smiling. "I know I was much worse when I was younger. Vulcans, Romulans, as far as I was concerned, if it had pointed ears, there you go."

He actually stopped in his tracks. "It is refreshing to hear something so close-minded from you!"

She laughed at his words. "I said 'when I was younger'," she reminded him.

He smiled as they continued to walk the promenade. "And now?"

"I'm older now, I can see the obvious differences."

"Is there anything you like about us?" he asked. "Romulans in particular?"

She grinned and there was mischief in her grin. "You mean besides the ears?"

He laughed, "Yes, besides that. Many of you Federation women seem to like the ears quite a lot."

"Yes, some of us do," she admitted with a grin. "But Romulans?" She looked up at him and honestly said, "I like your head. Horrible haircuts, but I like your head ridges."

"Strange, but I find human heads sadly lacking," he joked. They both laughed about that for a little while and then he grew serious. "I find you perfectly made, however."

She tried to lighten the conversation, "What with this hair? I've never seen a Romulan with curls. You all must think it's terribly disruptive to have curly hair."

He nodded, "Yes, it is seen as too individualistic and quite an anomaly." He looked at her and admitted, "As for myself, I find it a most lovely and intriguing thing."

She saw he was being absolutely honest and found herself inordinately pleased. "You like my curls?"

He looked away then as he admitted, "It is so very alien and yet so very attractive. I find myself wishing to see what they feel like."

She swallowed back nervous laughter. "If our little scheme works out," she whispered, "before you go back to Romulus, I'll let you touch my hair."

He looked down at her, surprised. "Now that is a good deal."

##

Jaime and Rekar decided to have lunch the next day instead of dinner that evening. He made her promise not to give in and go to work that night, to stick to what she had told her boss. He asked her to rest instead. He had to speak with his superiors via subspace, otherwise he would have taken her out again that very night.

She was about to drift off to sleep when her PADD chirped. She picked it up and put it on her bedside table, activated it. There was Rekar, onscreen, a small smile on his face.

"Hello, Jamie," he said.

She realized she did like his voice. "Hi," she said halfway tired.

"You are in bed," he realized. "I have interrupted your rest. I apologize."

"No, no, I hadn't fallen asleep yet. What's going on?"

"I might be called back to Romulus within the week," he informed her.

"Oh wow, that was fast."

He smiled at her through the line. "There are pictures of us that have already reached Earth being circulated."

She began to laugh with him through the line. "Already?"

"It is causing a slight scandal in the human world. Us, walking with a baby in a sling… it was quite perfect."

She really was laughing then, overjoyed for him. "Congratulations, commander!"

"No," he stopped her, "I am Rekar for you. Never do you have to refer to me as 'commander' again."

She was melting on the spot and didn't understand why.

"I wanted to call you this evening to tell you something," he said. Honesty shone through in his face. It was the most open he had ever been with anyone else. "You have humbled me on many levels, my Jamie," he said, obvious emotion on his face, "you have done something selfless for someone else for no reason other than that they needed your help and you simply understood my predicament. Do you know that in my life, no one, _no one_ except for my mother has ever done such a thing for me?"

She truly was melting at that point. She was humbled by his words as well, but she felt terribly for him that he came from a world where being selfless was seen as a possible weakness. "Rekar," she whispered. "You don't have to tell me this."

"I want to thank you for that, for your kindness to me despite continually angering you. In all honesty and sincerity I expected no such thing, ever, and-" he found himself shaking his head. "It has been my honor to know you, Jamie. You are a superior woman to me."

There was an unexpected lump in her throat then and she struggled to get past it. "Thank you for telling me that. It means a lot."

He looked away for a couple of seconds. "You rest now," he said, wanting to be considerate. "Tomorrow, I will see you for the midday meal?"

"You still want to go even though you don't need to?" she asked, smiling again. "There are pictures already circulating out there."

"It was agreed we would go, yes?" he asked.

"Yes," she said as she knew he was retreating behind a wall of words and previous agreements.

"Then we should go," he said with finality.

He could call it whatever he wanted and disguise it, but she wanted to go, too. "Fine, we'll go."


	7. This Is Not Fair

They met for lunch on the promenade, as planned. The eyes were really watching at that point. Jamie Lee knew what it was. This looked to be turning into a habit, the two of them meeting together on the promenade.

"I trust you slept well?" he said in greeting.

"I did. And you?"

"I am well rested," he nodded as they began to walk together.

It was nice to just walk with him like this. When he went back to Romulus, she would definitely miss this walking and talking dynamic they had. She looked at him briefly and his eye caught hers. A blush stole into her features and she looked away. There were feelings in her chest that had been ignited and they were now branching out, spreading like wildfire.

"What are your thoughts at this time?" he asked since she had gone so quiet on him.

She smiled. "Don't you wish you knew?"

He hoped beyond hope at that moment that he could stay there on Deep Space 9 just a little bit longer to be at her side like this, over and over.

They went to lunch at an all-you-can-eat buffet and as soon as they both sat down with their plates, Rekar asked, "Isn't that your doctor and the Bajoran head of the station staring at us?"

They both looked over at the other table. Kira and Julian were indeed staring just as Ezri got to the table and sat down with them. "Let's mess with them a little bit," whispered Jamie Lee. "Wave."

The couple looked over and waved happily at the other table. The three nosy heads then turned away quickly, obviously caught in the act, but still pretending they had never been watching. There was now a heated discussion amongst the three of them.

The two looked at one another and broke into spontaneous laughter. It was the best either one of them had felt in months. "Wait wait wait!" Jamie Lee laughed as she pulled her chair closer to Rekar's.

"Any closer and you'll be in my lap!" he smiled.

"You don't seem like that would upset you," she flirted.

"That's because it wouldn't," he flirted back.

They had gone ultra serious and both seemed to be riding the same wavelength. Eyes locked together, this time neither one looked away. Rekar found himself reaching out under the table with one of his fingers, without thought, and gently sliding it against her index finger for just the briefest contact.

She audibly gasped. The touch of his hand was one shock, but the telepathic sensation that accompanied that touch was a wave of searing want that left more want in its wake. His light sliding touch lasted mere seconds and then he forced his hand away from hers. "What was that?" she whispered at him, still caught up in the sensation spreading through her system though he had already withdrawn his hand.

"That is the reason we don't clasp hands in greeting," he said, slightly breathless. "Touching hands is something left for-" he surveyed her face and went back to looking into her eyes, "-other things." He hadn't expected such a volatile internal reaction from simply testing that out. But that small bit of contact had truly put him in the arena of 'point of no return' where she was concerned. He knew for himself now, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. The pretense was now over.

They were both wordless, simply looking at one another, sitting way too close in a public space. "What are we doing?" she whispered. "I mean really, what are we doing?"

They both looked to their food then and began to eat, though neither had much of an appetite at that point. Toward the end of their meal, he looked up at her and declared, "If it were up to me, we would not end this."

"What?"

"You asked, 'what are we doing?'" He shook his head. "We should not end whatever this is we're doing."

She looked around herself, suddenly conscious of where they were at. "You're going back to Romulus soon. And besides, this isn't the place to talk about this."

"You are correct," he conceded. "Later. We will speak on this later in private." He had a very determined look on his face.

##

**LATER**

Rekar paced his quarters. He felt as if he would go out of his mind. He had allowed Jamie Lee Sisko to walk away from him. Their talk earlier had not gone well. And he was also now summoned back to Romulus, post haste. He had yet to tell her that.

He thought of the conversation they had had hours ago after their noonday meal:

"Now what is this you're talking about?" she asked.

"I've already said what I mean," he declared. "You and I-" he said as his words trailed off. His eyes held a pleading expression.

But her fear won out. "What, are you afraid your superiors haven't had enough of you dating some human girl? I wasn't aware whatever this was was real!"

"It is real to me now."

"Sure it is," she tried to play it off.

"And your touch earlier, it cannot lie. I know it is real to you, as well! When we touch, we cannot lie to one another!"

She didn't answer. She was standing there wondering how she had gotten herself in so deep so quickly. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to do at that point.

He grew urgent in his impatience as the words, "Tell me you feel absolutely _nothing_ for me and I will let you go!" spilled rapidly from his mouth.

She tried to say it, but the words wouldn't come. Why wouldn't the words come out? He was right. That feeling from earlier, from his touch alone he must have felt how she was feeling because she had had enough time by then to process it and she knew precisely how he was feeling about her. She couldn't lie about that any longer to him or to herself.

He felt smug and satisfied by her not being able to deny things. If there was anything about his Jaime, she was always honest. "You cannot deny that something within you wants to belong to _me_," he said with quiet passion.

She didn't understand why, but she felt tears in her eyes, then. Was that a look of victory on his face? She sniffled, a little bit hurt, as she abruptly turned around and walked out of his quarters, angry and confused.

##

She didn't want to go back to her quarters or anyplace else. She went for a long walk that lasted for hours. She walked the entire station three times. Afterward, she walked over to Quark's and ordered an early dinner. She sat in the bustling establishment and tried to eat while she read a book on a temp PADD. She gave it up after fifteen minutes. She had to admit to herself that all she had been doing was reading the same paragraph over and over again.

Why did Rekar's words and the expression on his face make her so angry? Who did he think he was! Was he so_ superior_ that he thought it would be some kind of privilege to belong to him? Was she simply a conquest to him? How many other women had he done this with? She could just punch that look on his face and…

Was it because the words were true? Did she have feelings, deep feelings, for him?

She sighed as she felt truly miserable. She put down her fork and gave up on trying to eat. This was not supposed to be happening. She was just supposed to be helping someone in a tight spot and that was it. She should be glad now that he might be leaving soon. She wasn't supposed to even like this guy, let alone think of forming some kind of permanent thing with him! And now here she was feeling like she was in the deepest trouble a woman could find herself in, involuntarily approaching an active state of love.

"Want some company?" asked Leeta as she stood at her table.

Jamie Lee was glad to see a familiar face. "Sure, why not?" she offered her a seat.

Leeta sat down with her and eagerly asked, "How are things?"

She shook her head. "Not too good right now."

"Does it have anything to do with that Romulan you're dating?"

Jamie shook her head. "You have no idea."

"I do!" said Leeta. "Sometimes we fall in love with something we don't expect to. I mean, look at me. I'm married to a Ferengi. Everyone thought I was nuts when I broke up with Julian and I started dating him. But when I decided to marry him, the shock and horror in some of their faces!"

Jaime Lee admitted to herself that she had always wondered how that guy had gotten with this beautiful woman, but she would never say that to her. After a time, though, being around them, she saw how good he was to Leeta. And she understood why, then. She found herself admitting aloud, "You know, I always prided myself on being so open-minded. But when it comes down to it, I'm pretty prejudiced after all."

Leeta looked at her with understanding fully in her eyes. "I really do understand," she sighed. "Don't let it keep you from being happy, though, okay?" She turned and looked at the door and her expression brightened considerably. "I have to go now."

Jaime Lee turned and saw Rom standing there waiting for his wife. The former dabo girl stood quickly and went to join him. The two hugged up with one another and went strolling down the promenade.

Nothing else mattered, she supposed. They were happy together. And she had to admit that she hadn't been happy for such a long time. Except for when she was in Rekar's company.

She went for another long walk and thought it through some more. Rekar was a pain in the neck. But when he was with her, he was honestly trying not to be that way. And then sometimes, he would get that look in his eyes, that look like she was the most wonderful thing to behold. Every time it happened, it caused her stomach to drop out from beneath her. No man had ever looked at her like that. There had been men that chased her, men that wanted to go out with her, even men who she knew just wanted her for her body but that feeling she got when Rekar stared at her? She could get used to that feeling.

Even though she really was confused, she had just walked out on him earlier. That wasn't fair of her she knew. She made herself go back to the quarters he was staying at. They needed to talk.

##

Rekar heard the chime and let in whoever it was. His heart sped up when Jaime Lee Sisko walked in.

She saw that his bag was open and he was packing. "You're leaving," she realized.

"I've just been called back to Romulus."

"Mission accomplished, right?" He was already leaving. They had never even had a chance.

He stood before her, looked down into her eyes. "You could always come with me," he said almost hesitantly. He was serious.

She saw it then, he was so beautiful to her and she did like him and not just a little bit. But he was already leaving. "You know that it's not a smart thing for me to go following you into your Empire like that all on my own."

He agreed. "You are correct. Under normal circumstances, that would not be an intelligent move. Even under these circumstances, right now, I would without a doubt keep you with me for all time and never give you back to your Federation."

"Why would you say something like that?"

"I want you," he admitted. "I want to see you again and again. It is in my very nature to take, to conquer, to _keep _what is mine."

She should have been scared to death to hear him say those things about her. All she felt was a wave of sadness washing over her and she couldn't identify why. And there was no time to figure it out. "But _you're leaving_."

"Nothing is permanent," he said. "I'm coming back for you, this I vow."

"That's what you say now," she said sadly. "You'll go home and you'll go back to work and you'll get busy and then you'll forget."

He saw then what her problem was. "I will have to prove you wrong," he smiled as he reached out and ran his hands down the curls he had been promised he could touch if he left for Romulus. "I will send you logs and messages. You will do the same for me?" he asked as his eyes held hers.

She nodded. "All right." Her heart was starting to break. When had she allowed it to start beating for him? She wasn't ready for this and already he was leaving. She found herself walking into his arms as he hugged her close, his hands stroking her back and hair, her arms clutching him as tight as possible. Emotions washed over the pair that neither ever expected would begin to grow the first time they set eyes on one another.

The whole thing just wasn't fair.


	8. Doctor's Orders

Jamie Lee woke up the next morning in her quarters already severely depressed. Rekar's ship had been scheduled to pick him up and then leave during the nighttime of the station. The two had spoken well into the night on anything but his leaving. She had walked him to the area of the docking station, but refused to watch him walk away from her. It didn't matter what he claimed, she truly believed he would return to his life and be so swept back up in it all that he would forget her.

She knew the sooner she made herself get on with her life, the sooner she would recover from this. It hadn't been a long attachment after all, only days!

She tackled that first day without him with a vengeance. She watched the baby for Kassidy for two hours while she had a meeting with her crew. Then she went to the restaurant that afternoon and come to find out she had not been fired. The boss was treating her much better, too. She supposed standing up to him had done the job. At one point she looked at the boss carefully to make certain he didn't have any bruises on him since Rekar had mentioned sending some men over to rough him up. Maybe it was for the best that he was gone from her life? Smother whatever was growing early before a fire started!

She was walking down the promenade after work when one of the store owners stopped her. It was Darei Koraal, a Bajoran jeweler. "I have something for you, Miss Sisko."

"For me?" she asked, confused.

"Come this way."

She followed him into his store and stood there as he went behind the counter. He pulled out a box and put it into her hands. "That was purchased for you yesterday afternoon by Commander Rekar. He said to give it to you after he had gone." She frowned as she opened the box and found a set of earrings staring up at her. Her mouth dropped open. They were made of a blue stone resting on a platinum backing. "Bajoran sapphires," the shopkeeper said with a grin. "Very valuable. Very expensive!" He then pulled a handwritten note out and put it into her hands. "And he said to give you this with it."

She looked at the words on the paper. The way it was written was just as precise as the one who had written it. 'For you, my dear. Beauty deserves an even greater beauty. Therefore these gems deserve you. You will cause them to sparkle evermore.'

The lump in her throat formed before she could prevent it and she could feel tears threatening to spill over. She wanted to declare yet again that this was not fair. How could he be gone already? And why would he leave her this gift? She was worse than confused and to top it off she couldn't even go directly to him to speak about this.

She looked over at Mr. Darei and smiled at him, eyes filling up. "Thanks for handing them over to me," she said with a nod. She took them and put them right into her pocket before walking out onto the promenade. She went home.

Jake noticed she barely ate anything that night. "I've finished cleaning up the interview and I've written the first draft of the article. You want to edit it now?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, getting back to work will be good for me."

He went off to bed and she sat there reading Rekar's words. And a ball of pain was sitting in her stomach and chest. It burned. She finally let the tears out.

##

"How's your cousin doing?" asked Kira days later. She was sitting in Quark's going over shift reports when Jake was walking by.

Jake shook his head as he sat down at the table with her. "Not good."

"So she actually liked him," she said, surprised.

"You could have knocked me over with a feather when I realized it," he said. "It's been almost a week since he left and she's barely eating. I mean I haven't seen her crying or anything, but her eyes are red all of the time and she just looks so sad. I don't know what to do for her."

"Only time can fix these things," she said. Kira was personally glad the Romulan had left. That girl didn't need to get mixed up with a Tal'Shiar agent.

Julian walked up to their table in Quark's. "Jake, how's Jamie Lee? She never came back for her follow up for her ankle."

"She seems to be walking fine," he said with a shrug. "But that's not what I'm worried about right now."

Julian sat down and joined them without asking. "Ah, yes, Commander Rekar."

Jake shook his head. This station sure could gossip! "Is talk of this everywhere?"

"There's a betting pool," said Quark as he stuck his head in among them, a serving platter of drinks in one hand. "Some think Rekar will be back within the month. Others say it will take longer. And some say he's gone like the wind never to return. There's another betting pool that says not only will he never return, but Jamie's stomach is going to start getting larger over the next couple of weeks. No matter what happen, though, the longer it takes for him to come back, the more money I make off of time limit bets. I can't lose!"

"Are you profiting off of my cousin's misery?" Jake asked, angry.

Quark seemed to get an attack of decency. "Not too much, I assure you," he said and then rushed off to deliver the drinks.

"She's not eating, she's barely sleeping. She's up all the time," Jake complained. "Because of the work she did on my article about Rekar she was able to get this new position for an editing company on Bajor, so now she's working two jobs."

"When does she sleep?" asked Julian with concern.

Jake shrugged, "I don't know. All I know is she gets a double shift at the restaurant sometimes and then she comes home and works some more."

Quark stuck his head into their conversation again, the empty tray stuck under his arm by then. "She's raking in the profits, you have to admire that!"

Kira had had enough and smacked Quark upside the back of his head. "Ouch! That's assault!" he declared, but then he was rushing away again shouting at a departing customer, "You need to pay your bill _before_ you leave, sir!"

Julian said, "Tell her I want her to come in so I can look at her ankle and see how it's healed. While she's in the infirmary if I find any signs of her being run down or exhausted, I can make sure she gets a little bit of rest for a short time at least."

Jake sighed, relieved. "Thanks. You can't order her to eat, can you?"

"Under these circumstances, sorry, I can't," said Julian.

##

Jamie Lee sat on Julian's examination table and was quiet while he checked her ankle. She remembered the first time she saw Julian Bashir she had had the worse crush possible. It had been quick and instantaneous and over that much faster. Real life on the station intruded and he became nothing more than the station's doctor to her.

Rekar on the other hand. She hated him on first sight. And now? What did she feel now?

Julian was frowning at his scanner. "How much sleep have you been getting?"

She shrugged and admitted, "I don't know. I catch it when I can or when I can't avoid going to sleep because I'm so tired."

He continued scanning and at first didn't say anything. He put his scanner down after a time and looked her in the eye. "Jamie Lee, I've seen you at the restaurant a lot. Then Jake mentioned you got a new editing job on Bajor?"

She rolled her eyes. "Look, Julian, I'm an adult and I don't need a babysitter."

"No, what you need is a tranquilizer," he declared, clearly impatient. "You can't keep overworking yourself. I order you to get some sleep. Take a vacation or something. You've been working enough, you must have enough credits to go by now."

"You can't order me," she folded her arms.

"Actually, I'm a doctor. Yes, I can. I want you to get three full nights of sleep starting tonight. And then after that, I want you to go on vacation, even if it's just for the weekend."

"You don't understand," she said as she felt like crying. "Then I'll have to think if I can't work."

"And what's wrong with thinking?" he asked delicately.

The infirmary was empty except for the two of them and she found herself looking down at her hands as tears finally spilled down her face. "I did a stupid, dumb thing. I'm falling in love with a man I shouldn't fall in love with. And now he's gone."

Julian felt badly for being glad Rekar was gone at that point. "And why is that stupid?" he wanted to know.

She looked up at him and sniffled. "Well look at me now! This is not good!" she gestured at her face.

"I'm sure the commander will-"

"Don't say it," she shook her head as she got off of the exam table. She sighed. "I'm going back to my quarters. You talk to the restaurant because I don't feel like it. Tell them whatever you want to tell them."

"I'm telling them you're not coming back to work for the next seven days."

"Seven days?"

"You have another job, don't you? That should keep you busy for the next couple of days until your weekend vacation."

"Yeah yeah yeah," she waved him off as she left the infirmary.


	9. I Blame You

_A/N - Totally forgot to give the shoutout when I uploaded that last chapter. Special shoutout to Ahlysha, my 50th reviewer! Whenever I hit 50, 100 or 150, if at all possible, I try to give a double upload that Friday. And the chapters have already been written for tomorrow, they just need editing! So thanks to Ahlysha, y'all, you will get a double upload tomorrow. One in the morning, one at night!_

* * *

Rekar was almost at his destination. Romulus. When he was on the bridge, he looked as impervious as he always had, giving sharp glances to his subordinates. When he was first received by this new crew, he could tell they all assumed that because he was being brought back, no longer in disgrace, he had somehow softened. He showed them from the very beginning that he had not. It had been over a week since arriving on board and they already knew not to test the commander. When he gave an order, it was obeyed at once.

But now, he sat in his quarters aboard ship. At this point he knew he should be rejoicing. He had been accepted back not only at his old position but also in his old command. He was no longer 'technically Commander', he was truly a commander!

He found himself standing and walking to the large window aboard ship, staring out at the wide expanse of space. His thoughts inevitably turned back toward her.

What was she doing right now? Did thoughts of him enter her mind? Was she walking the promenade without him? Or worse yet, with someone else? He hoped that 'someone else' was her cousin and not some other man.

Standing at the window, looking outward and wondering about her was not the only thing he had taken to doing when he was on his own, lately. He also kept waking up at night and looking over at the place next to him. She had never shared his sleeping space, but he felt as if she should. And not for a one time thing. He wanted her there when he awoke every day. It didn't matter what he did, thoughts of her followed.

He went to the communications panel in his room and did the only thing he could. He recorded a message to send to her.

"Jamie Lee," he said, his heart in his throat. "I feel deep regret that I could not spend more time with you before I was called away. My offer still stands for you to come to me on Romulus. I don't think you'll do it, but I need you to know that you are most certainly more than simply wanted by me. I don't care about who or what either one of us happens to be. All I know is my life is disrupted because I continue to want to see your face. The Romulan heart is deep and full of passion and my heart wants yours. Think about this, please. I will contact you once again when I have reached home and have had a short time to settle back into my old life. You are more than free, my dear, to contact me whenever you may wish. You have my direct information, you may use it at any time." He paused briefly, a look of restrained pain on his face. "I urge you to use it. Good-bye again," he said quickly.

He encrypted the message, glad he had thought to give her codes to decrypt anything sent by him to her. It would not do to have such a message end up in the wrong hands. His enemies would most certainly use it against him… or against her.

##

She sat there in her quarters, face streaming tears once again. She hadn't expected to get a message from him at all. But to get one so soon? Honestly she thought he would have halfway forgotten about her by now. She thought he had gone and gotten on his ship and skipped out of there, back to his old life, glad to be back among his own people. And this was waiting for her in her inbox when she woke up that morning.

Her bag was already halfway packed next to her. For her doctor ordered vacation, she had decided to go to a tiny resort on Bajor for the weekend and was about to leave in a few hours. But then she had heard that message. She found herself sitting on her bed and hitting 'play' again, just to see his face, hear his words.

After the fifth playback, Jamie Lee made herself get up and finish getting things together. The ladies of her family would flog her for such ridiculous lovesick behavior!

But she did find a smile on her face about one thing. He had not forgotten her yet, after all.

##

Jake thought after Jamie went on vacation she would do much better. So she went, and when she returned after the three day weekend, at first things seemed to be going great for her. She promptly quit her restaurant job and started doing full time research editing for that Bajoran company. They were very interested, apparently, about factual information concerning Deep Space 9. She had at least stopped crying all of the time and was able to smile again.

Within a few days, however, he realized she was repeating that pattern of working too much and barely eating or sleeping.

Jake had had enough. He put in a message to Rekar of Romulus.

##

Rekar saw the signature on the message, that it had come from DS9 and thought, 'Finally! She has contacted me!' The message, however, had not been encrypted and that should have told him that it was not from her. Instead, he saw the very disgruntled face of Jake Sisko looking at him in the message.

"I don't know _what_ you did to my cousin!" said the young man, "but she's not eating, she's not sleeping, and I don't appreciate this at all! She is miserable and I blame_ you_! You need to fix whatever it is you've done!" and then the message ended abruptly.

Rekar was honestly shocked. He hadn't heard anything from Jamie since he had returned to Romulus a week before. He hadn't bothered sending her another message just yet. He wanted to respect her feelings, give her enough time to think things through concerning the two of them. It was difficult, but he had done it. It was one of the advantages of being an older man, he knew. Patience.

But this message changed things. He went into his office at Tal'Shiar headquarters that day. This was going to get taken care of right now. He opened an encrypted channel to the one place on DS9 capable of accepting that special frequency.

##

Elim Garak was standing outside her quarters just as she stepped out one morning. "What are you doing here, Mr. Garak?" she asked.

"My dear, there's a subspace call for you waiting in my establishment."

She looked at him as if he were crazy. "Who the heck would be calling me this time of morning from your shop on subspace?" she asked spiritedly as she planted her hand on her hip.

"Well it was routed there for privacy," he said. "You could have wound up taking the agent's call in ops with all ears and eyes on you. Especially since now that betting pool is watching your waistline to see if it will expand, all ears would most certainly have been on your conversation for any corroborating evidence."

Her eyes widened and she felt like the blood was draining from her face. "What? Who?"

"You've got connections, my dear," said Garak with a strange smile. "I'm impressed. It's not every day a Tal'Shiar officer calls to speak with you."

She found herself grabbing Garak's arm and pulling him in the direction of his shop. "What do you mean they're watching my waistline? A betting pool?"

"Honestly, if anything you're about ten pounds smaller than you were before this whole debacle began," Garak prattled on as he gasped to keep up with her. "This whole thing's affected you quite badly, hadn't it? Thank goodness you had it to spare."

"Did you just call me 'fat'?! I may be a little chubby, but-"

"Not anymore, my dear!" he declared with a smile. "Ten pounds makes a big difference on such a small physique! And despite what the naysayers may gossip about, I know about Romulan mores and morals and I know you're no more pregnant at this time than I am."

"Did you just imply that had the commander _not_ been Romulan I'd have just-"

"Oh, why split hairs, my dear? The end result is still the same, is it not?" he asked as smoothly as he could as their pace quickened.

"Well _thanks_ for the vote of _confidence_!" she said, in a crusty mood. But that mood got better and better the closer to his shop they came.


	10. Long Distance

_A/N - Here's the first chapter for today. I'll upload the next one late tonight. I did one last quick edit before I put it on here so forgive any errors you find, please. I hope you all have a great, positive day!_

* * *

Rekar stood and waited in anticipation. The former Obsidian Order agent assured him that it would take about fifteen minutes to go to Miss Sisko's quarters and bring her back. But that time was beat by three minutes as the connection opened up again and there before him on-screen was the face of the woman he realized he was going to have great difficulty living without. Her cousin's claim, that she was no longer eating, stood before him, as well. The contours of her face were most certainly slimmer!

She simply stared in disbelief at first and then her face broke into a large gentle grin. "Hi! How are you?" she asked so very sweetly.

His heart was melting in his side at that sweetness. "I am more than tolerable at this moment." He then confessed, "I have not done well without you."

She shook her head and looked away, trying to deny his words. "We'd only just met, Rekar, that doesn't make any sense."

"And yet I know _you_ haven't been well without me either."

She gave him a serious side-eye 'look'. "You been spying on me?"

"No! I received an angry message from your cousin. What is this about you barely eating and sleeping? He blames me, has accused me of doing something unscrupulous to you to cause this sadness." He then began to chastise her, "What is this, woman? Must I return to Deep Space 9 and stand over your bed to ensure you sleep? Must I sit at your table and feed you with my own hands?"

Jamie Lee somehow jumbled the image in her mind and couldn't help but think of him standing over her bed while holding a plate of food. She started to laugh at the mental picture, her hilarity high and sharp. Then that laughter turned to tears. She had never done such an intimate thing like eating from the same plate with anyone.

He had heard the expression in the Federation, 'broken heart'. But never in all his years had Rekar felt the sensation of a breaking heart. He had guarded himself all of his life, took precautions that no one could get close enough to pierce his outer armor. But now he felt that sensation of a twisting in his side, an almost rending tear as he watched her. Here stood this ordinarily very strong young woman coming to pieces and it was over him. Before, he would have regarded such a show as weakness or intentional manipulation. But he knew she wouldn't show this side of herself to just anyone. He knew this meant she was revealing who she truly was to him. She did not realize it, but already she belonged to him! "Come to me on Romulus," he begged.

She shook her head and quickly wiped her tears. "No. It isn't right."

"Why _not_?" he asked, obviously pained, confused by her resistance.

"I know next to nothing about your people, your customs. A woman should _never_ step into a situation like that blind and I am really blind about all of this right now! I can't let my emotions dictate what I do. That's dangerous."

He never thought he would hear a human say such a thing, that they could not let their emotions pick their course. It was, of course, admirable to him. But he did wish at that moment that his Jamie would be a little weaker simply so he could have what it was he wished. "You are correct," he nodded as he watched the now silent tears track down her face.

"Besides, for now I have my life and you have yours. It's not like either of us don't have anything to do or something. I even got another editing gig. Oh! And I quit the restaurant!"

"Good!" he said. "That place was abominable."

She found herself laughing as she wiped her tears away once again.

"I have another deal for you, Jamie."

She looked up in exasperation. "Enough with the deals, Rekar!"

"No, this one truly will be to both our advantage. We should speak this way, via subspace, once a week. And we send messages back and forth anytime we may wish for the time being until we mutually decide what we should do about this literal distance between us."

She looked at him as if she were amazed. "I never got to thank you for the earrings, by the way. They're the most beautiful gift anyone's ever given to me."

He saw she wouldn't answer him about keeping in contact. He swallowed back pain. "They were given with thoughts from the deepest part of me. They are inadequate compared to what I truly wish to give to someone like you."

She knew this call couldn't go on forever and let her eyes feast on his. "Rekar," she said as if it hurt to speak his name. "We're so different! Would your people even accept me?"

"I do not _care_!" he declared hotly. "I do not care about whatever differences we maintain. Our hearts beat as one, do they not? And it wouldn't be the first time a union such as this has occurred," he informed her.

"Oh, that's right! I've heard about several of your Senators. What is it with you guys? You suddenly have a human woman fetish or something?"

"I don't know," he said. "But I am aware that even Vreenak has recently entered into something with a human and he is no senator. I would not be the only one."

"Vreenak. You mean that one that looks like a velociraptor?"

"What is that?"

"It's a type of dinosaur."

He still looked mystified.

"Forget I said that." She swallowed and then nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."

"Okay?" he asked, his hopes rising.

"Okay. We talk once a week and we send messages back and forth for now. We can figure out a lot that way."

"I wish you were with me right now," he said with a fixed stare. "Anytime you want, you may come here to me on Romulus. My home is empty and so is my life. You may come anytime you wish and fill it. Is my meaning clear?"

She found tears in her eyes again. She nodded rapidly as she tried to blink them away. "Yes, you are."

The call ended then. There was one thing that bothered her very much. He never said he loved her. That might have induced her to blindly go into the Romulan Empire just to see him. But until she heard that word, she was not putting her life on hold for someone else, deal or no deal.

She walked out of Garak's shop and he was outside waiting for her. "You seem to be doing much better, my dear," he said with his enigmatic smile.

"I do feel a little bit better."

"And now?"

She shrugged. "Now we see what happens next, right?"

A cloud passed over his expression. "Be careful, my dear. Always watch your step. A man such as Rekar, he must have enemies. But most dangerous of all can be those who would consider themselves his closest allies that may regard you as his weakness. Be wary at all times. Will you do that for me?"

Jamie Lee sensed baggage in that advice. She didn't know where it came from, but she nodded in agreement. "I'll watch my back, Garak, I promise."

"And when possible, I shall watch it as well." His expression lightened then. "I must open my shop soon! I have three pairs of trousers that still need mending."

There was a sudden angry snap in her expression as she remembered something he had said earlier that morning. "There are betting pools about me, huh?"

Garak actually looked slightly panicked. "Now, Jamie Lee, don't do anything you'll re-"

"I'm going to Quark's right now!"

From that look on her face, Garak got right out of the way as she stormed past him.

She made her way to Quark's, not entirely sure of what her goal happened to be. Mr. Garak's words were ringing in her ears about some of the station looking at her to see if her waistline would expand. She realized, then, that she _had_ been getting strange looks from time to time, in particular hard staring at her tummy. And when she'd quit, her ex-boss didn't exactly look so surprised. The whole station probably thought she had quit that job because of a high-risk hybrid pregnancy!

Quark hadn't opened for the day yet, but the gate he usually locked up when he left was open at that time. She walked in through his doorway rapidly and stood in front of the owner of the establishment, hands on her hips. "Why are people looking at my stomach?"

He tried to play it off. "Why Jamie Lee! So good to see you! Everyone is just commenting on your rapid weight loss!"

"I heard there are betting pools," she said between clenched teeth.

"You're small enough now and I hear you're working a lot. You must want to rack in the latinum from your rate of work and I've been meaning to tell you, you could make a lot of credits as a dabo girl!" he said rapidly as he tried to deflect her from the subject.

"Mr. Quark!" she yelled.

He paused as he looked at the expression on her face. "Has anyone ever told you you're absolutely gorgeous when you get angry?" he finally said. He was absolutely serious.

"I'm here trying to get answers as to why everyone is trying to figure out if I'm pregnant and you're _flirting_ with me?" she said, outraged. "Stop the betting pools! I know you and I know the pregnancy one CAN'T BE the only one! So stop them ALL!"

"I have an arrangement for you, then. I have no children. If your womb is unoccupied at the moment-"

Jamie's temper got the better of her. "One more word out of your mouth and, so help me, I will slap you SO HARD your Grand Nagus will feel it!"

It was obvious from the stupid grin on his face he didn't believe her. So she faked him out by raising her hand as if she would slap him. He jumped back a little, startled, and she gave him the angriest face ever as she turned away from him.

"Wow, what a woman!" he murmured as she stormed out of his establishment.

"Men!" was the only thing she shouted as she threw her hands up on the way out.


	11. To Go or Not To Go

Over two months passed and Rekar was not at all satisfied with how things were going between himself and Jamie Lee. Speaking with her via subspace once a week was not enough. The brief messages she sent from time to time were like a tease to him. He longed to be in the same space as her. He wanted her in his arms, accessible at all times, ready to take her place at his side.

The effort to shake the incessant need within him began with simple workouts in the holoroom of his private home. Regular light hikes turned into hard treks. Whenever he received a block of days off, he would go up into the hills not far from his home, familiarizing himself with the rough terrain all over again, staying clear of dangerous wildlife. It had been years since he'd done so. But he found these distractions were still not enough.

He found himself taking it to the next level back in the holorooms again, working himself hard in ways he had not since the earlier days of his career when he was a field agent. During the trying physical maneuvers his muscles often screamed for relief, but burying himself in hard workouts was one of the only ways he could silence the clamoring of his body for hers. And then came the hardcore simulations, first two opponents, then four, then five. The intensity of that workout left him sore by the end of each day and even more so by the next. But his body was changing rapidly. His muscle mass was smooth and lean again in a way he previously thought impossible to recapture.

Everyone did notice, however, he was in a perpetual foul mood. The workouts took off the edge, but the frustration was still there, gnawing at him.

His superior called him into his office one morning. "Yes, sir," he said as he walked in to see him sitting behind his desk. The man had grown complacent and almost fat in the past couple of years. He never forgot the fact that this man had not backed him up at the Prometheus incident. He thought the bureaucratic desk-rider would perhaps upbraid him for how short he had been with everyone around him lately, but he no longer cared what his superior thought.

"I am ordering you to go to Earth. You must retrieve several of our artifacts from an archeological dig. They were found just outside the neutral zone and brought to Earth for testing. When it was discovered that the artifacts in fact do belong to us, we were asked to come and sign for them for retrieval. I am told from the time you arrive and officially sign for them, it can take legally two months, and maybe even as long as four, for them to be released to our care."

In the past, he would have been humiliated to receive such a mundane and unexciting assignment. But already, the wheels in his head were beginning to turn. There was a solution here. "I am to go to Earth for at least two months?" he asked.

"Yes. You have one full day to get things in order and then you are to depart."

Rekar knew he had to at least pretend to be not excited by this, so he kept the smile off of his face. "Yes, sir."

##

Jamie Lee was bogged down in work. Fortunately these new contracts all only lasted a month at a time each. She had seven days left on her current ones and then she would have to re-up on contracts once again.

She sat up in bed, not really ready to face the day. But when she went into her PADD she saw there was a message from Rekar. An instant smile hit her face and she bypassed all of her other messages and accessed it.

"Jamie," he said, almost excited, "I have been assigned to go to Earth. On my way there and back I shall be stopping off at Deep Space 9 for four days each. You have a choice. You may enjoy me for the four days or you may come with me and stay on Earth for as long as you wish. I could meet your family! We could do so much together, see one another every day. Since your career has been jumpstarted again and in the location of a place seen as recovering from the latest wars, you could probably find elements of your career anyplace you wish now. Simply think about it. I leave Romulus in eight hours and I shall be at Deep Space 9 in ten days. Consider this, please. Come with me."

The message ended and her mouth just dropped open. "Jake!" she called out to her cousin.

##

"If you go, I'm going with you," he said as he shook his head.

"What?!"

"I'm not letting you get on that ship alone."

"Would you stop being paranoid?"

Jake seemed to be standing there and counting to ten in his mind. He finally asked, "Do you love him?"

That word still made her feel uneasy. Neither one of them had made any declarations of love. She knew if she were around Rekar on a regular basis she was in serious trouble of falling into something very deep with him, and yes that meant 'love'. It only dawned on her then what that could mean. Something permanent? "Jake, what about Lisa? Kassidy isn't going to have anyone to watch her."

He deflated. "That's true." It had been good for him to keep an eye on his baby sister. And ever since Jamie Lee had shown up it significantly lightened the load when it came to Lisa duties.

She was also deflated. She would feel awful to leave Kassidy hanging. "What are we going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said sadly. Then he brightened considerably. "Well I guess that means you can't go!"

She squinted at him and had that dangerous look on her face. "You don't like Rekar!"

"It's not that I don't like him, I just don't trust him, okay? He's a Tal'Shiar officer! What do you expect?"

She stood up, angry, and went to storm out of their quarters. She turned back around and said, "You know what? I thought you would understand the way I felt, but you don't! So he's a Romulan! So what?"

"It's not the Romulan thing that bothers me, it's the Tal'Shiar part that's scary."

"So if I dated a member of Starfleet Intelligence, that would scare you?"

"Yes," he said honestly. "Why can't you just get with a repairman or a cook or something?"

"Did you just ask why I won't date someone like grandpa or Rom?"

"I guess I just did," he realized.

"You can't help who you love, Jake," she said, obvious misery on her face.

They both paused. "So you _do_ love him?"

"I don't know, I haven't exactly been around him long enough to know that."

"I think he loves you." Jake didn't know why he felt the need to say that, but he did. And it made him even more nervous about this whole thing.

She sighed. "I'll go talk to Ezri and see if she'll help with Lisa if I go. She's been a mom like how many times?"

"Good choice," he said. "And what do you mean, 'if you go'?"

"I haven't exactly made up my mind yet. I still have some time to think about it."

He sighed as he shrugged. "I'm sorry I said that stuff about him. I just feel like I should protect you or something."

"I'm a big girl, Jake."

He looked down at her barely five foot height. "Not from where I'm standing!" he grinned mischievously as he lifted his hand up to her forehead and then brought it to his as if he were measuring their heights against one another.

She smacked him in the backside as hard as she could and then ran from their quarters laughing before he could catch her.

##

Days passed. The day that Rekar was due to arrive at the station, Jamie Lee had a sudden attack of nerves. She stood at the door of her closet trying to figure out what she was going to wear, how she should do her hair, make-up or no make-up?

The chime sounded. When the door opened, Leeta was standing there.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so glad to see you!" said Jamie Lee.

"I thought you could use a little support… and some clothing help!" she laughed.

By that point, there were outfits all over the place.

"Maybe I should wear the blue?" said Jamie Lee with big nervous eyes as she picked up a dress. She threw it down quickly, "The grey?" She threw that on the couch haphazardly. "Red?" she asked as she picked up a red top and black slacks. "Red?"

"Red is always good," Leeta said as she laughed. "Why are you so nervous?"

"I haven't seen him in what? Almost three whole months? I'm scared! What if he doesn't feel the same way when he sees me this time? What if I don't feel the same way? What if I'm making a huge mistake? Should I go to Earth with him, should I stay here? What if-"

"Go to Earth with him?" she asked, shocked. "Really? He could meet your family and everything!"

Jamie sat down on the couch in a huff. "Leeta, I never told you thank you. You're the only person who hasn't said anything bad about Rekar."

She sat down with her. "I think people think they own you Sisko kids or something. They feel responsible if Benjamin should come back and-" she shrugged, not finishing her sentence. "I don't want to pry, but I noticed you going into the temple from time to time. Have you asked the prophets what you should do?"

"What I'm going to say is selfish and will probably be religiously offensive to you. But I go to the temple when I miss my uncle and I feel like I really want to see him. For me, the Prophets… I'm sorry, but I don't see them that way. I know you do and you should, you're Bajoran. And I understand he's your Emissary. But for me and Jake-" she shrugged as tears pooled in her eyes. "From my point of view, he was sort of taken into heaven and Jake still needed him here right now. And what about Lisa? So I'm a little bit angry with them, I guess? But not like totally angry. You get my drift."

"I understand what you mean. We don't understand everything that the Prophets do or why. Just have faith that they do everything for our benefit. They might have had a great reason for taking Benjamin."

"I have no idea."

She sighed. "You know, if everyone else is giving you grief about Rekar, you two could always live on Bajor."

"What?"

"Well the Romulans got into the Dominion War just in time. They're kind of heroes from Bajor's point of view. And you're a Sisko! No one on Bajor would see it as strange if you go and live there."

She looked at Leeta as if she had just given her the formula for Post-Its. "Leeta, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me about Rekar." And then she began to giggle.

"What is so funny?" Leeta asked.

"I'm so nervous!" Jamie Lee said as she started to feel just the slightest bit dizzy.


	12. Hooked

_A/N - Tiny bit of heat, but still rated 'T'!_

* * *

Rekar departed his ship at the docking ring of Deep Space 9. As he entered the station, he saw the very lovely face of Jamie Lee waiting for him. The expression on her face seemed to be somewhere between anticipation and nervousness. His insides were begging him to grab her, drag her someplace intimate and make her his fully. He had to clamp down on the instinct as he fixed her with an intense gaze. He continually reminded himself, not here, not now. Not even, he knew, anytime soon. He would not dishonor her by engaging in improper behavior before they were married.

They met and stood there, others milling around them. A greeting seemed to fail to find either one of their lips. Jamie Lee seemed temporarily incapable of speech.

"I have taken quarters here on the station," he said.

In an almost unspoken agreement, they walked to where he was staying. He accessed the code he had memorized and the door slid open. They walked inside and as soon as the door closed, he was physically lifting her into his arms and hugging her to him tightly. "How I have longed for this moment, Jamie. _My Jamie_!"

"I've missed you, too, Rekar!" she admitted, relieved by the deep feelings of wholeness just from the feeling of having his arms around her once again.

He put her down after a short time and simply gazed down into her face. There was such a loud clamoring of emotions within him at the overwhelming sensations of her touch, her scent, her presence, all finally so close to him. There was so much that needed to be said. It would have to wait. "Give me your hand," he whispered, already anticipating what was to come. It would not be all that he wished to do, but at least he could have a fraction of what he wanted for the time being.

She held her hand up to his. He took it and very lightly skimmed his two fingers along hers. He wanted to watch her reaction, but he was hit with such a strong wave of pleasure from the contact that he found his eyes drifting shut on their own.

"Oh my goodness," she whispered, taken off guard by the feeling of the full sensation. It was much stronger than that time he had covertly touched her hand under the table in that restaurant on the promenade. After a short time, she was able to relax into the sensation. She also found her eyes drifting shut. Things progressed quickly at that point and soon both their hands and fingertips were skimming and sliding, skin on skin, back and forth.

It felt as if something alien was inside her body generating shivers of heat, cold and desire. Waves of it danced up her hands, arms and shoulders then directly into her spine. The sensation would zing up and down her back then relay back outward to the rest of her systems. That indescribable sensation was coming faster after a time and one followed closer on the heels of the other. The inner hum soon became almost continuous and the ending of one began to run into the beginning of another until they were both caught up in a streaming net of pure sensation.

The next thing she knew, Rekar grabbed her hands fully into his own and pulled her close, one of his arms almost aggressively circling her waist and holding her tight to him. There was a moan from her as he inhaled her neck sharply. Unable to contain himself any longer he groaned in deep want and allowed instinct to take over. Leaning down into her space, he bit her full on the neck then began to suck eagerly.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, but only halfway from shock.

He pulled away quickly. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" he asked, wide-eyed, his senses returning.

She was looking at him, amazed, shocked, surprised… "I never figured I'd be the type to like getting bitten."

He smirked. "And?"

She put her forehead to his chest, embarrassed about what she was about to say next. "It's kind of hot."

The two found themselves on his couch not too long afterward, cuddled up in each others arms, happy to be together again after so long. There was a very satisfying mark beginning to develop where he had bitten her. He smirked as he stared at the spot.

She looked at him and wondered what it was he was feeling so smug about. "What?"

"I seem to have left my mark on you."

She sat up quickly and put her hand to her neck. It stung a little to the touch and she was in dread of what it must look like. She jumped up and ran to the mirror in the other room. But the mirror was hung at well over five feet and she couldn't reach it to see it. "Oh, what the heck! What size-ists to assume everyone is five-six and beyond!" she shouted in frustration. She then began trying to jump so she could see herself in the too-high mirror.

Rekar found himself standing in the doorway just keeping himself from being doubled over with his laughter. But he most certainly was openly laughing at her predicament. She turned and he saw she was about to give him some scathing words. He quickly said, "Allow me to help you." He went to her, lifted her up into his arms, bridal style, at his full height of six-three and found he needed to bend a little so they could look in the mirror together.

She was too busy fixated on looking in the mirror at her neck to catch the look of rapture on his face at the sight of the forming blemish. A haze of tunnel vision overwhelmed him as he whispered, "Mine."

"Is this what this means?" she asked in slight amazement as they both watched the mark deepen and darken to an angry purple color. She looked up at him then, realized there was a very possessive change in his eyes. They had gone almost black. "I should be upset with you for not giving me some kind of warning before you bit me," she found herself whispering. She was trying to joke with him, but some other emotion was making it difficult to get the words out. She was also starting to find it difficult to breathe regularly. Her heart rate was increasing as she picked up on some primitive change happening inside of him that she didn't yet understand.

"But you're not upset?" he asked as he began to nuzzle the mark first with his nose and then lightly with his lips. He was intoxicated by inhaling her skin once again.

She hissed in a breath of air at the sensation. "No, I'm not upset. I should be, but I'm not." She was moved then to take his face into her hands and kissed him lightly on the mouth.

He didn't know exactly what it was he was supposed to do, but they took their time. They exchanged light pecks on the lips and explored the art of soft kissing.

She realized after a short time that he had been holding her up in his arms the entire time. "You should put me down," she whispered in between pecks. "It's too much weight to keep holding this long."

"You don't weight anything," he whispered in return, still testing out this human kissing.

"Do it," she insisted with a tiny smile. "I want to touch your hands."

He planted her on the desk they were standing near, his body invading her space, his chest pressing in on hers as he dragged her as close to him as he could, crushing her to him. Their hands pretty much collided at that point and his kissing improved substantially. They fell into an instinctual rhythm of lips dueling for supremacy as their fingers found one another's hands and then faces. It was his idea then to test the use of his tongue for the first time as he reached out lightly and licked her upper lip.

The feelings became too strong for her and she realized she was literally dizzy and shaking. "We have to stop."

He saw it then, she was overloaded, and he took his hands off of her immediately, stopped kissing her and found himself trying to get his breath back. "Are you coming with me to Earth?" he asked as he went to stand in her space once again, hands on either side of her, eyes shackled to hers.

She saw it in his eyes then. He was hooked on her. It was a powerful feeling. At least it should have been. She was just as hooked on him as he was on her. The feeling in her chest was overwhelming, almost crushing. "Yes," she forced out.

He didn't mean to say it the way that he did, but he found himself compelled to blurt out, "You should become my wife."

* * *

_A/N - I feel totally AWFUL for leaving you guys here! But my son has a couple of days off from school and I have no idea if I'll be able to update again until sometime next week. If I get enough writing and editing time, I can, but if not, I'm so sorry for leaving you guys here of all places!  
_


	13. The Story of Rekar

_A/N - There's a tiny reference in here to BewilderedFemale's hilarious review of the last chapter, haha!_

* * *

They were back on the couch once again and it was like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on the both of them. There was now an awkward silence and serious eye-contact avoidance, but not on his part. "Speak to me, Jamie. I did not mean to offend with my words. I simply believe you should become my wife. You're good for me in many ways I didn't realize I needed until now. You are the greatest lady I have ever known."

She was honestly in a little bit of shock. They had met months ago, but they had only been in each other's active company less than an entire week! "We haven't technically been together that long, Rekar," she finally forced out.

"We have been together long enough for me to know that I do not think we should ever separate again," he said very strongly as he moved closer to where she sat.

She sighed lightly. Seeing him did make her happy, but… "Is this a Romulan—I mean, do Romulans do that? Get married so quickly?" The look on her face was very worried as she finally turned and looked at him. "I don't mean to offend by asking you something like that. I'm just trying to really understand-"

"No, no offense at all," he reassured her as he restrained from touching her. He didn't want to send her into a real panic since this subject seemed to be making her nervous. "For those of us allowed to choose, within days of meeting our intendeds, we know. It has never happened for me before, but it is happening now with you."

She stood up rather quickly then and began to pace the room. She was restless and a little bit afraid. Her instinct was to run. She admitted to herself at that moment that she had always run away whenever someone got too close to her. But she found herself looking at his face.

Jamie Lee remembered how things were when they first met, how arrogant he had been. He still was arrogant, but that was a trait of his people. She couldn't fault him for that any longer. But this proud man was now laying his thoughts out before her, so vulnerable. She found she couldn't walk out on him, like she might have in the past. She couldn't hurt him like that. And she would tell him the truth of what she was thinking instead of just disappearing like she had done so many times before in the past with others. "I don't know, Rekar. I don't know that we should do that so soon. At least for where I'm from, we don't do that."

It was not the answer he had been hoping to get. But the more he thought about it the more he realized he had sprung this on her. He sensed, though, that Jamie Lee was holding some things back from him. It hurt to consider that she felt the need to conceal anything thing from him. But perhaps that meant they were not ready to be married after all. At least he was ready, she was not. There was still time. She was going to Earth with him, after all. "For now, it will do."

She smiled carefully at him. "I have to go and pack now, all right?"

He hoped he had not scared her away for good. But he believed her. She needed to get ready for them to go to Earth in a few days. "Yes. I will come to you for the evening meal?"

"Yes!"

"We shall dine out at Shakaar's again?"

"No! Let me cook you something."

"With your own hands?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.

"My grandfather wouldn't have it any other way."

##

"You're cooking for him now?" asked Jake teasingly.

"Yes! You want to eat with us?" she asked cheerfully.

"I'll pass," he finally smiled. "I haven't had any luck in the love department and the last thing I want to do is watch the two of you feeding each other shrimp etouffee."

"We don't do stuff like that!" she said defensively as she set the table.

"Not yet, you don't. But you will," he joked. "And then you can get married and have seven babies and-"

Jamie Lee smacked Jake's hand and laughed. "Whatever."

"So do you think you will?" he asked, seriously.

"Think I will what?"

"Marry him?"

She wondered if Jake had read her mind or if he somehow found out about Rekar wanting to marry her. She couldn't help but wonder if Quark had been hiding in Rekar's guest quarters somewhere to corner the market on his betting pools! "Isn't it a little soon for that?" she asked as she scratched nervously at her neck.

Her cousin knew what that meant. She was nervous because she was thinking about what he had asked her. "You know I'm worried, right?"

"I know you don't like him being a Tal'Shiar man. I mean, what if he wasn't?"

"I think he loves you. I think he'd be great for you!" he admitted.

She shrugged. "If he loves me so much, then why doesn't he tell me?"

"Maybe it's a Romulan thing," Jake shrugged. "Why don't you ask him?"

She cut her eyes at him. "Jake, a woman should never have to _beg _a man to find out what's truly in his heart!"

"Why not?" he asked. To him it was no big deal.

"That's a gift to be given freely, not demanded," she said quietly.

He nodded as he thought about that. "So then why don't you tell him?"

"I'm not sure if I'm in love with him really yet and I don't want to say something I don't really mean."

Jake knew his cousin was scared. She was so scared she couldn't see what was obvious to him. Not only did Rekar love her, but she loved him, too. He hoped the both of them woke up before they hurt each other. He knew the advice his father would give him right now. He would tell him to keep his mouth shut and let Jamie Lee work out her own business. "Save me some food!" he said happily before grabbing his things. "I'm going to the holosuites to play some crazy program with Bashir and Ezri."

"Have fun!" she called after him.

##

"This meal was exquisite!" he said as he sat back, gratified on many levels. It truly had been the best cooking he had eaten in years. This woman was very talented, indeed.

"Thank you," she said as she blushed. She stood and began to collect the dishes to put them into the replicator.

The second time she went back to the table to pick up dishes, she felt Rekar's hand gently take hold of her wrist. She looked down to see him slipping a silver looking bracelet onto her arm. It was strange in that the bracelet itself were tiny Romulan letters held together in bracelet shape. It was lovely in a very simple way and her heart dropped out from under her. She had an instinct she did not understand. "This is a family bracelet?"

He found himself unable to get the words out so he simply nodded.

Something was very wrong. "Wouldn't they mind that you're giving this to me?" she asked delicately.

He swallowed back a deep emotion and forced himself to speak. "They might if there were any of them left."

"Rekar?" she almost whispered. She had that feeling in her stomach. Something worse than terrible had happened in his past.

He found himself pulling her to him, placing her on his lap. "A family can sometimes become caught in the crosshairs of political failings. It is the reason I decided long ago to never enter public office or in fact voice anything publically about my political leanings. When I was born, my father was a lower senator working his way up the line. At some point, he angered the wrong politician by backing the wrong things a little too publically. He was an optimistic dreamer, in some ways. In those days, things were much simpler, much more brutal in the Empire."

He pulled her in closer, wrapped his arms around her tighter. "There was also the complication that my mother was a beautiful woman desired by many. But my father was the one that captured her heart." He looked up into her eyes. "My father's family was caught in a political purge decades ago when I was still a boy. Every immediate member of my father's family was executed by order of that higher senator, but no one could ever prove it was him that had ordered the assassinations. And the only reason my mother escaped was because the Praetor was infatuated with her. She gave herself to him upon my father's death for one reason only. So that I would live." He was still very affected by what had happened. "I displayed some small amount of telepathic ability and the Tal'Shiar is always looking for telepaths. Once I was taken into the Tal'Shiar to be trained, there was no way anyone could touch me. My mother ended her life then rather than continue to be the plaything of a man she hated. So well played and honorable was it considered as far as what she had done and the way she had carried it out, the Praetor made sure my lands and holdings were not divided and given to others, but that they were held in trust for me when I reached my majority. I was her son, not my father's, then. His name was stripped from me and hers put in its place so that I would live."

Jamie Lee was practically holding her breath. He had never revealed himself like this to her before! She felt tears in her eyes. "Rekar," she said as her eyes spilled over. "I'm so sorry," she whispered as her hands held his face. "How did that make you feel, to have your father's name taken from you like that?"

"He put all of our lives in danger by doing the things he had done," he said. He was still, in a way, angry with his father. "Instead of working covertly for the goals he wished to attain, he broke many rules in our empire. He, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, most of their children, dead. I learned my lesson well from what happened. My mother did what needed doing to save her child and she reclaimed her dignity in death. In my opinion, they are correct. I am her child more than his. Her actions brought me life."

She realized then, all of those weeks ago, when he admitted that only his mother had ever done anything selfless for him… it was all so alien and brutal and inherently Romulan, this tale of time past. And she could only sit there and look at him, hurt for him.

He drew her face down to his. Forehead to forehead, he admitted in a shaky voice, "You make life livable again. I existed before, for duty, for honor, for her name. But now there is you. I know you are not ready to marry yet. That is acceptable to me. But I wish to make you mine and build something with you I never thought would happen for me."

They embraced then. She was overwhelmed by all that he had revealed and he needed the comfort of her arms. It didn't matter what or how long it took, he decided, he would marry her at some point.

##

"Now you're sure about this?" Jake asked her for the fifth time that morning.

Time had passed quickly. She had spent the past few days with Rekar and she was about to leave her quarters soon to join him on his ship. Things had changed substantially between them once she knew the story of his family and what happened to his parents. "Yes, I'm sure. Ezri said she can keep the baby a few hours every day and Kira said she'd be willing to help, too. Kassidy is okay with that, don't worry I spoke to her already."

"Kira Nerys," Jake said with a devilish grin. "One day, she'll give me a chance."

Jamie Lee laughed at her cousin. "Whatever, man. Dream on. Give me a hug and I'm off."

He hugged her then and at the last minute looked down at her, concern deep in his eyes. "Please—please be careful."

"Jake, what are you afraid of? Do you think he's going to kidnap me and make a run for Romulus?"

"Yes," he came out and said.

She sighed. "I'll be fine. So don't worry."

He sighed nervously. "You call me and leave me a message every day, all right?"

"All right."

##

Jamie Lee met Rekar at the docking station and he took her bag and held it for her. "This is heavy, my dear," he said with open concern.

"I was okay."

"You are certain you didn't strain yourself?"

"Would you stop that!" she laughed. "I may be a weak human female, but I do have some muscles you know!"

"Come. I shall show you to your room aboard ship."

As soon as she was settled in, she stood at the window of the ship and watched Deep Space 9 shrink in the distance as they pulled away. She had been putting up a front for Jake. She was very nervous. She knew how Rekar felt, as far as wanting to marry her, and she did wonder in the back of her mind if he would suddenly change course and take her right to Romulus. She shook herself out of paranoid thoughts. She already did trust Rekar and he hadn't done anything thus far for her to mistrust him.

The trip to Earth on the ship was cut drastically by them going at top warp. What took her weeks to travel was returned to in a matter of days. As soon as they arrived in orbit, everyone aboard registered with Earth authorities.

Jamie Lee was allowed to go down before the rest of the crew since she was a citizen.

"I will see you later," Rekar said to her as he looked down into her eyes.

"Good-bye," she said.

He didn't care what his men thought as he grabbed her and gave her a deep kiss. She was dizzy afterward, but managed to make it to the transporter pad. As soon as she was transported down, one of his men commented, "That is quite unsanitary-"

"It is my concern," Rekar snapped and that was the end of that subject.

##

Jamie Lee went home to her parents' house. There was no place else for her to go since she had given up her previous apartment before leaving Earth a couple of months back.

Her mother, a woman from Indonesia, greeted her with a big hug. "You are home!" she said happily. "How is Jake?"

"He's fine."

"How is the new baby?"

"I have pictures!" She pulled out her PADD and it was loaded up with picture after picture of baby Lisa Sisko. She forgot, though, there was a picture in there of her holding Lisa and Rekar sitting next to her, one of his arms draped possessively around her.

Her mother shook her head as she realized the picture almost looked like a family photo. That made her uneasy. "I saw you in the paper over two months ago. I thought it was a tabloid error because I never saw you in there with him again. What are you doing with this Romulan?"

She knew this was going to be hard. "I'm with him, mom."

"'With him'." Her mother looked alarmed. "With him?! Is this the man you wrote to us about? This is the one you are almost in love with?"

"I mean, I thought he was an arrogant jerk at first but the next thing I knew-" she shrugged. "He's sweet. He's good to me."

"He's not just having fun with you?" her mother came out and asked.

"To have fun with me, he has to have had _fun_ with me. And he hasn't. He says he won't dishonor me like that."

Her mother understood what she meant. "I see."

"To tell you the truth, mom, he wants to marry me."

"What did you say?" she asked, alarmed.

"I said I didn't know what I wanted to do, that I needed time to think and figure things out. I mean, I have a career, I can't just go running off to Romulus and-"

"Romulus!"

"Well that's where he's from and I can't tell him stay someplace all of the time and not be willing to stay where he lives at least part of the time!" Jamie Lee sighed tiredly. "I can't believe no one cares about what I want. Everyone just keeps talking about what I should do, but they're not the ones in the situation. What about me? What about what makes me happy?" Her face was downturned and she felt honestly on the verge of tears. "I'm just tired of this."

"It's the way things will be if you want to be with him, so you are going to have to get used to it," she said. "And your father! He's not going to be happy about this one bit. How old is this man?"

Rekar was actually older than her father! "Old enough," she said cryptically.

Her mother squinted at her. "This is a bad idea."


	14. Advice

_A/N - I'd like to give thanks for the...um...colorful reviews I've received lately. They made me laugh so hard, I hurt my rib!_

Disclaimer: I do not own Rekar or Letant. I have been given gracious permission by BewilderedFemale to use Bea in my story. Thanks, girl!

* * *

Rekar had already checked in at the Romulan embassy, but instead of leaving there immediately to go and see to Jamie Lee and then his Earth residence, he made his way to the office of one of the only persons he thought would understand his predicament. He would have gone to Vreenak, but he was still on Romulus and he was unsure of where Koval happened to be at that time.

"What brings you here today?" asked Letant of Commander Rekar. He was on Earth at that time to vote on several mutual bills between Romulus and the Federation involving post-Dominion War cleanup along the old neutral zone. He had a feeling as to what had brought him there that day, but Letant wondered how long it was going to take for Rekar to come out and admit it.

He got straight to the point. "How goes your wife, Senator?"

Letant found himself suppressing a grin. "You mean my human wife?"

"Yes."

He did grin then. "She is well."

"Do you have children?" he asked.

"At this time? We have four," said Letant. He smiled a little more, "I anticipate we shall have more."

"She has brought you fortune, indeed. I am here for one reason only. I wish to know the secret of getting a human to marry you."

Letant gave him that mischievous side-eye glance. He had seen the pictures just like everyone else and knew exactly whom Rekar was referring to. "She's resistant, Commander?"

He sat down in a chair, all pretenses gone. "I do not know what I should do. I take possession of my residence here on Earth soon since I shall be here for, seemingly, months. She has agreed to help me furnish it. But I cannot convince her to simply marry me and live in it with me."

"Perhaps there is something she is waiting for from you," Letant suggested.

"I don't know what that is. I have already stated she is a superior female and my match in more way than one. I have given her my family name in writing and it is the most ancient of jewelry! I wish to have children with her!" he said since that alone would tell another Romulan male his true feelings. Wishing to create progeny with someone indicated you felt they would improve your line. But it was more than just that, now.

"Have you told her that you want to produce children with her?"

He admitted, "No."

Letant sighed. He shook his head as if the commander were a lost cause. "I think you've forgotten a few pertinent details. She's risking everything if she allies with you. She is also probably paranoid about what will happen if she returns with you to Romulus. Add to that she may lose her human family if they are not fond of your match. You have to give her something tangible to hold onto, a reason to make what my wife would call 'a leap of faith' on you."

"I am Rekar!" he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I have riches beyond her dreams. I am well established and the best mate she could ever have! No male on this lump of rock inferior planet-"

"Careful," Letant halfway taunted. "You must watch your words and thoughts. This planet is her home. And there are quite positive things of Earth."

"Once she marries me, she shall be of Romulus. Tell me of one thing this world has done that is superior to ours?"

"Commander, Earth produced my wife and the woman you wish to make your wife. In fact, Earth seems to be producing many women marrying Romulans these days. It cannot be a wholly inferior place to produce so many superior females."

Rekar thought of what he'd said and shook his head. "She said I was arrogant and a 'pain in the neck'. I suppose she is correct about that. And yet I have so much I wish to give her! She would want for nothing."

Letant didn't know how to tell him that it sounded as if Jamie Lee were not a latinum chaser and that just wasn't going to cut it. "You'll figure it out. Would you two like to go on a double date with me and my wife? That alone may put her at her ease that she will not be the only human on Romulus, at least. Several of her other friends have just married Romulans as well and Bea can tell her of that."

"Double date?" he asked, curious. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"Humans do it sometimes, couples dating. Bea and I are going to the opera tomorrow night. Do you think Miss Sisko would like that?"

"I shall ask her."

##

Rekar didn't know how this whole thing was going to go over, but he showed up on Jamie Lee's doorstep later that day, flowers in hand. That's what the guidebook said he should have, flowers. Except instead of just one set, he had two and one single rose.

The door opened and Jamie's father was standing there. He already had a 'look' on his face. "You must be Rekar," he said, only just restraining grumpiness.

Jamie's father, Jacob Sisko, resembled the photographs he had seen of Benjamin. "Yes, I am Rekar. It is an honor to meet you today," he said.

The man grudgingly let him into the house. Rekar looked around. It was not an overly large home, but it wasn't small either. The décor, however, was as he had never seen. He wasn't certain how he felt about it. Creole art hung on the walls. It was bright and vibrant. It was brighter than anything he would ever use, but it did contrast well with the muted colors of the rest of the home.

Jaime Lee herself came running down the stairs and straight into his arms. "Rekar!" she said as she hugged him.

He temporarily forgot about her father standing there and her mother coming in from the kitchen as he caught her up into his arms and hugged her close. "Your day has gone well since returning home?" he asked.

"Yes. And the artifacts?"

"I've signed for them, but as expected, they won't be released for a while yet, so I'm going to have to wait."

Her parents were taken aback by how natural the two looked with one another. How deeply involved was she with this person?

Jamie Lee then turned and looked at her parents, "Mom and dad, this is Rekar. Rekar, this is my dad Jacob and my mom Nirmala. And that's my big sister, Jacinda, coming in right now."

Jacinda hadn't seen Jamie Lee yet, so she went right to her sister and hugged her like crazy. "I've missed you so much!" she exclaimed, temporarily oblivious to the tension in the house. She turned to Rekar, then. "Jaime Lee's told me so much about you, nice to meet you!" she said and then put her hand forward for a handshake.

Both Jamie Lee and Rekar looked at her hand, slightly horrified. Jamie leaned forward and whispered something in Jacinda's ear. Her sister put her hand down quickly. "Like Vulcans?" she whispered back at her sister as Jamie nodded rapidly in answer.

Then Jamie realized what her sister had said and rapidly whispered, "What a minute. How do you know about that?"

Jacinda turned around quickly, never answering her sister's question, and said to everyone else rapidly, "All righty then! What's for dinner?" as if nothing had happened.

Her very confused parents looked at one another and then looked back at the three in front of them.

"These are for you!" Rekar said to Jaime's mother as he handed over a set of flowers, red roses. "And these are for you," he said handing over another set to Jacinda, wildflowers. He was left with one white rose. "This is for you, my dear," he said as he looked down into Jamie Lee's face.

She blushed as she took it. "Rekar," she whispered.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Let's get it together. We're all going to grandpa's for dinner tonight at the restaurant."


	15. Times Are Changing

_A/N - Special shout-out to Loretta Jean for being my 100th reviewer! You know what this means. Thanks to her, you guys get another two-chapter Friday!_

* * *

The dinner at her grandfather's restaurant went technically well. No one was overtly rude to Rekar, but she could tell her parents and grandfather were not happy about him one bit. It made her stomach ache.

Jacinda, at least, was okay with him and didn't care what their parents thought. "When I brought Talon home last month, they just sat there and stared at him," she whispered to her sister later that night before they went to bed. They were both camped out in Jacinda's room with a huge bowl of kettle corn.

"Who is Talon?" Jamie Lee said with huge eyes as she stuffed her face with popcorn.

Jacinda grinned ear to ear and pulled out her PADD and pulled up his picture. "That's Talon."

A very good looking Vulcan with extra black hair and green eyes was staring back at her in the picture. He was very tall and towered over the petite Jacinda. Jamie Lee giggled, "He's mouth watering!" as she began to laugh very hard. "Poor mom and dad, they're getting hit with green blood from both sides!"

"Can you imagine if we marry these guys and have babies? All their grandkids are going to have pointed ears!" her sister joked.

Jamie Lee sighed tiredly. "I was prepared for stuff to go kind of bad but this is just harder than I thought it was going to be. Everybody on Deep Space 9 had something to say about it. Jake doesn't trust Rekar while he's still with the Tal'Shiar. And now mom and dad and grandpa-" She shrugged almost sadly. "And Rekar is saying he wants to marry me and I haven't even had a chance to think about that! It's just so much pressure from everything and everybody on all sides," she admitted as she looked into her sister's eyes. "How do you marry a man and he hasn't said 'I love you' yet? I understand he's different, but I'm different too and I just can't do it until I hear those words. And what am I supposed to do grab him by the arm and beg? 'Please! Please tell me you loooove me!'?" she said as she grabbed her sister's arm for illustration.

At first, she was laughing and then Jacinda's eyes widened as she grew serious. "Is this a Vulcan Romulan thing or something? I just started dating Talon and he has officially enacted the 'rite of koon-ut-so-lik'. I was like, what?"

"What's that?" Jamie Lee asked. Her sister had always taken an interest in all things Vulcan, spoke the language and had even taken a summer internship on the planet Vulcan to study tectonic activity for her degree.

"Koon-ut-so-lik," she repeated. "That's Vulcan for 'Do not pass 'go', do not collect 200 credits, let's get married right now, right this instant', that's what."

Jamie Lee looked at her in amazement. "How the heck are we going through this at the same time?"

"I don't know. It's weird, right?"

##

Jamie Lee met Rekar at a furniture rental place. She stood off to the side holding in laughter as Rekar specified to them that nothing previously owned was to grace his temporary home.

They spent the day picking out item after item or via view screen catalogue to have delivered. But she had no idea what he meant when he said, "That is sufficient for now. We will return tomorrow morning."

"Rekar, how big is the place you rented?"

"It is fit for a man of my station, breeding and background," he said as if it were nothing.

"Oh brother," she muttered. "We need to work on that humility thing with you a little more." But when they arrived at the property, Jamie Lee's mouth dropped open. "Holy Vedeks and Vulcan Masters, you could fit two large families into this place!"

"Yes, I know," he said with a smug expression on his face.

She simply shook her head. "It's going to take three days to get enough furniture for this place."

"Thank you for volunteering."

She put her hands on her hips and gave him a challenging look. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"It is what you prefer in a man, yes?" he bragged.

She had to work hard to hold in her laughter. The last thing she wanted to do was encourage his narcissistic ways!

"Honestly, Jamie Lee, if you would simply marry me I would have company in this large abode," he said as he gestured at the stucco hacienda style mini-mansion with Tuscan roof tiles.

She gave him the side-eye. "Whatever, man. I can't sleep in that house without proper security. Just the two of us living there? We would be asking to get robbed. I mean, _are_ you going to have security here while you stay here? I don't want you not to have any."

He was touched at her concern. "Yes, of course, dear. I'll have my security detail once I settle in."

She was satisfied then. "All right. Are we still doing this opera thing tonight?"

"Yes," he said with a smile.

"Then I have to go home and dress."

##

Rekar decided to surprise Jamie Lee with the couple doubling with them so he said nothing about it. When he went to pick her up, he was overwhelmed by the way she looked once again. She was wearing a royal blue evening gown, ridiculously high heels and make-up. Her curls had been pulled into a half up half down style with a crystal comb adorning it. She was wearing the earrings he had bought her before the last time he had left her on Deep Space 9.

"Stunning as always," he declared.

She felt a serious blush begin in her feet and work its way up her body. "Rekar," she gushed slightly as she put an ornate light shawl over her arm and clutched her mini bag to her chest. They quickly got into his limousine and were on their way.

When they arrived at the opera, they were escorted up to their box seats by a well dressed usher half an hour before the show was due to begin. The orchestra were already in the pits doing preliminary tune-ups.

When they got there, she saw there was another Romulan there with a human woman.

"May I present to you Senator Letant," Rekar introduced him.

The senator halfway smirked down at Jamie Lee. "Miss Sisko," he greeted. "You are the one who shall perhaps domesticate Commander Rekar," he teased.

Jamie Lee looked over at Rekar and winked at him. "I don't know if that's possible," she murmured with her own smirk.

Letant smiled openly then. "And may I present my wife to you at this time."

The human women smiled at one another and the two noted they were about the same height and body type, though Jamie Lee was about ten pounds heavier. "Do they chase the shorties on purpose?" Jamie Lee whispered at her.

Letant's wife was laughing as she whispered back, "I think there's something about a little lady that messes up a Romulan's head. My name is Bea. It's great to meet you!"

"You, too!" she said with her own grin. "I'm Jamie Lee."

"They're already whispering together," Rekar remarked to Letant. "This cannot be good."

"You must leave your military thoughts at the door, commander. Whispers," Letant said with his perpetual smirk, "are not always indicative of a mutiny."

They both looked over at the two ladies, but they were already off in their own conversation, speaking with one another as if they had not just met fifteen seconds ago.

##

It was the last person Jake expected to hear from about any of this. "Grandpa?" he said as he stood in ops and the subspace call came through.

"What is this about your cousin possibly marrying this Romulan?" he said, obviously angry.

"Marrying?" Jake asked, eyes wide. "She never said anything that. What are you asking me for?"

"Do you know what this is all about?" he asked, confused.

"Grandpa, I'm sorry, but it isn't 'about' anything. I think she really loves him."

His grandfather harrumphed across the connection. He declared, "It's all foolishness, is what it is!"

"Sorry, grandpa, but I may not like that he's with the Tal'Shiar, but I've seen him with her. He loves her. He really loves her."

"So you're okay with this?" he asked, outraged.

"Grandpa, I don't need to be okay with it. I just—I'm going to be there for her. I don't know what the rest of the family is going to do, but if she needs me I'm there for her. And that's it."

"All you young people! You have no idea what's happened in the history of this Federation and those Romulans! All of a sudden, all of you running off and marrying them and having babies with them and-"

"What are you _talking_ about?" asked Jake, mystified. "She hasn't married him yet or had any kids with him."

"If you knew how many of our girls in the Federation are marrying Romulans! Why, there are so many half human children on Romulus now I'm surprised they haven't started charging us rent!"

"Grandpa, times are changing," said Jake. "They always have. They always will. Do you want to stand in the way of that?" He was openly confused. "I thought you taught me that love was supposed to conquer all."

His grandfather seemed to be wavering a little. "If she wanted pointed ears, why couldn't she just get with a Vulcan or something?" he complained.

"Grandpa, I spoke to Jacinda yesterday. Doesn't she have a Vulcan boyfriend and you guys don't seem to be any happier about that right now either?"

Joseph shrugged. His grandson was right and he knew it. Times were changing and they had all been just as hostile to that Vulcan, Talon, though in a different way. "Green-blooded great-grandchildren," he stood there muttering.

Jake grinned then since he knew his grandfather was softening to the idea. "You know you'll love them!"

"Of course I will!" exclaimed Joseph. "I have to go and get the lunch menu ready for tomorrow. I love you, boy. You come to Earth whenever you want and bring that new little sister of yours when she's old enough."

"I love you, too, grandpa. I'll do that."


	16. I Have You

_A/N - Here is the first chapter of '2 chapter Friday'. I'll upload the other one when I get back home later on tonight._

Disclaimer: I'm just having fun with talking about The Phantom of the Opera! I didn't write it, I don't own it and actually I don't know anything 'deep' about it. I just really like it and have watched it repeatedly for pure illogical emotional reasons.

* * *

The night out at the opera was a wonderful event for Jamie Lee and Rekar. She was able to talk to Bea about a lot of things she was concerned about when it came to life on Romulus. Letant's wife went a long way to allaying a lot of her fears. She now knew, for instance, there were a lot of human females there married to Romulans and raising families. In her mind, she took one step closer to the thought of marrying her Romulan.

Rekar was so intrigued by the opera experience, he took her out again less than a week later to the musical 'The Phantom of the Opera'. It had come highly recommended to him. Jamie Lee had seen it twice, apparently, but he was encouraged by her reaction to the thought of going to see it again. Afterward, though, the story left Rekar with more questions than answers.

"Please explain to me, Jaime Lee," he asked during the limo ride home, "why did these men keep this opera house after they suspected it was haunted?"

"Well isn't it always hard to unload an asset, much less a bad one? Besides, this was hundreds of years ago and there might have been extenuating circumstances that have been lost to time. I don't know if they had like fraud bureaus back then and I have no idea how long it took for the original owner to even find a buyer to take the opera house off of _his_ hands. I mean, that's a big purchase. Not just anybody has that kind of money lying around. So those two guys were basically stuck."

"That is fine. I suppose I can understand that. But I do not understand why were not guards placed around Ms. Daae the first time she disappeared?"

"Rekar, I don't really know. Maybe because common women weren't seen as all that important back then?" she answered, uncertain. "Besides, I think they just assumed she was getting a big head or something, you know, getting conceited, and had just took off and they didn't realize she had been 'taken' at that point."

"Shocking! Why did no one ask her where she had been when she returned?"

"I don't know, I didn't write the story!" she laughed. "I admit I'm not great at interpreting musicals. I do better with books. Ask me something I do know! I just go to enjoy the musical and get carried away in the emotion of the whole thing."

He smiled down at her knowingly. "Who would you have picked?"

She suppressed a grin. "I have no idea."

"You mean between Raoul and the Phantom, you don't know who you would have picked?"

"Oh, I mean I don't know if I wouldn't have just sent the both of them packing or said the hell with it all and went with the Phantom for real."

He didn't know if she was joking, but the way she delivered her answer made him laugh until he was green in the ears. "My Jamie," he said as he sobered. The vehicle pulled up to her house. "We're here. Kiss me good-bye. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes," she said before giving him a sweet, soft kiss that turned into a scorching exploration of lips and mouths. She had to literally pull herself away. "I'm going! I'm going or I'll never go!" she laughed.

##

The next morning, she went downstairs and was barely able to get in any breakfast before her parents sat her down in the living room and had a talk with her.

Her mother did all of the talking while her father stood there, nodding at certain points. "Do you really want to be responsible for breaking this family up?" her mother asked. "If you marry this Rekar, think about it. The media will have field day with this. Your picture will be splashed everywhere, not just here either. And do you think his people are going to accept you? They think we're all weak and stupid. He's still an officer and he would have to leave you a lot. You would be alone!"

Jamie Lee was forcing herself not to be angry. "Do you think I haven't already thought about all of this?"

"So you _claim_," her mother said with a serious attitude, "but no you have not! You've just been selfish in all of this. You're going to divide our family into pieces if you do this and we can't have that. So we just wanted to tell you, whatever problems you have from all of this, it's on you and we won't have anything to do with this. We won't have anything to do with it or with you after that."

"So you're telling me if I marry him, that's it, you don't want to see me again?" Jamie Lee asked, openly devastated.

Her mother said, "We're not saying we don't want to speak to you, we just know it's going to cause problems and we don't want you crying to us about those problems because we already told you so. Just get ready for that. You won't get any support from us when these things happen. If you're going to be with him and wind up alone when he goes to work for extended amounts of time, then you need to understand that you really will be alone!"

Jamie Lee stood up sadly. She was truly dejected. She had a feeling this conversation might happen, but it still hurt. Was she really selfish? Was she really not being serious about her family, about her future? She was searching for something to say to try to make this all better before leaving the room, but before she could say anything else, Jacinda practically charged into the living room as if her hair were on fire. She was very angry! "Mom and dad, you should be _ashamed of yourselves_!" she shouted at them.

They all looked at Jacinda as if she'd lost her mind. She had never raised her voice at them! Both of their daughters seemed to have taken leave of their senses. Both girls had always been 'good'. But these days…

"Well guess what?" Jacinda continued angrily as she grabbed her younger sister's hand, "WE are marrying these guys, so get ready for pointed eared grandchildren! And if you don't know how to act, you don't need to be in the lives of us or our children! You don't want to give us any help, well fine, we don't need it!" she literally snapped her finger in the air toward the end of that sentence.

Jamie Lee was as shocked as her parents obviously were as she was pretty much yanked from the house by Jacinda. Her big sister then slammed the door behind her.

They both walked up the walkway and then stood outside the family home. Jacinda turned to her and burst into tears. Then Jamie Lee started crying. Then they were hugging and crying. "Why did you do that?" asked Jamie Lee. "You didn't have to, 'Cinda!"

"I had my own 'talk' from mom yesterday. I mean she said a whole lot of stuff, but the crux of what she said was that she didn't think Talon would really be there for me the way that I needed and I was going to have to choose between people that really loved me and one that could only imitate what love looked like. She said they were not going to stick around for when I would inevitably get hurt by him and when I broke up with him I could get their emotional support again. I went to bed and I didn't realize how mad I was until I woke up this morning! I was like, how does she know how he feels? I came downstairs and I heard her talking to you and… I just lost my mind. I'm sorry!"

Jamie Lee started laughing through her tears. "You snapped at mom and dad… literally!"

And then they were both taken with a serious case of hiccups and laughter as they both snapped in the air in imitation of what Jacinda had just done back in the house. Their laughter became worse and tears were now streaming down their faces because they couldn't stop laughing.

"Oh! My side hurts from laughing! Want to share a cab?" Jamie Lee finally got out on a hiccup.

Jacinda nodded. "Yes. I want to go and see Talon."

"Okay. You go there and get dropped off and then I'll go on to see Rekar."

"Deal," she said as she pulled her PADD out of her bag.

##

Rekar sat in his home on his couch holding a sobbing Jamie Lee. It was a strange tale that came out of her about not just her, but her sister! He found himself outraged about what her parents had said, but he thought it was best to not say anything about that for the time being. But he noticed she had not buckled to their demands, though she was terribly sad.

"Does this mean you _are_ going to marry me?" he asked, very hopeful.

"I haven't even made up my mind about that yet!" she admitted. "But they didn't even ask, they just assumed and they're already putting pressure on me not to do it! Same thing with Jacinda. She hasn't made up her mind yet and-" She shook her head. "They don't even know he wants to marry her! I just thought they weren't like this, you know? Like not this badly!"

Her tears were taking him apart from the inside! It was too much. He had to do something, say something to stop her from crying. He took her face in both of his hands. She was so utterly lovely to him and he couldn't stand to see her miserable! "Please do not be overly concerned," he said as he stared down into her face. "You would be my wife and you would not have to worry for anything. I love you," he whispered, "I would do nothing but love and protect you."

She seemed to only cry worse then. It was what she had been waiting to hear from him all along. Had she heard that right? "You love me?"

"Yes, with everything I am," he said as his eyes held hers. "I would give anything, do anything, go anywhere to be with you, to stay with you."

She swallowed as she looked up at him. "You just got yourself a fiancée."

His eyes widened. "That word… you are my intended, now?"

Through her misery, happiness was beginning to bloom. "Yes, I am. I love you and yes, I'll marry you."

He had refrained up until then, but his hand raised and he lightly touched his two fingers to her lips. He closed his eyes as he gently ran his fingers along their fullness. They both gasped from the contact. "I will make you happy," he said as he put his forehead to hers and wiped the tears from her face. "I will do all in my power to make it happen."

She pulled him in closer and kissed his lips lightly. Silence descended as their lips met, over and over. He had mastered the art of kissing in so few lessons, he flooded her then with a kiss that overwhelmed them both and threatened to pull them under a tide of arousal that he could handle, but he detected she could not.

He pulled away from her. "Jamie Lee, why do I sense hesitation on your part whenever we touch?"

She gulped and shrugged. "You're not going to laugh at me?"

"Why would I find humor in your hesitation?"

She looked away from him and shrugged again. "I was always studying in school and I was kind of what they called a 'nerd'. Um…" She exhaled sharply. "How do I say this? I've never—well you kind of get made fun of on Earth if you pass 20 and haven't ever, you know, done anything."

"Done anything like what?" he asked, not understanding what she meant at all.

She was beginning to feel true embarrassment. She looked straight up at the high ceiling in his living room as the blood rushed to her face. "I've never-_ been_ with a man before, okay?"

A deep, dark streak of obsession began to run through his bloodstream then. "No one has touched you," he realized as his eyes grew almost black.

She didn't realize the effect her confession was having on him since she was still looking up at the ceiling pattern and avoiding eye-contact. "No," she said as she folded her arms. "So when my boss came onto me back then, man that was horrifying and-"

"Did he attempt to_ take_ anything from you?" Rekar asked, violently outraged. He grabbed her and forced her to look at him. "Did he?" he demanded to know. "Tell me truthfully now."

She didn't want to answer him. "It wasn't _that_ bad. It was more like, you know, 'do you want to renew your editing contracts? How badly do you want to?'"

Rekar stood and he was ready to go and wage war.

Jamie Lee had to jump up and grab his arms, "Please! Don't do anything? All right? I walked away, I didn't do anything and he didn't get anything! I lost my job but I was able to come back to Earth and start working again, anyway, right? And since I had worked at one of the major staging points of the war I wound up getting better credentials than I had before! So he didn't win in the end, I did! But had I never have been at DS9 I wouldn't have this extra experience of working someplace other than Earth that I do now."

"How _dare_ he?" Rekar raged, eyes still black.

She stepped into his space and put her arms around him, pressed her face into him. "But we would never have met if none of this had happened the way it did. In kind of a twisted way, shouldn't we be thanking him?" she tried to inject humor into the situation.

It hadn't worked. Instantly, his arms were around her. "Say the word," he whispered. "Say the word and he will die."

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "No! I don't want anyone killed, beat up, stabbed, phasered, disruptored, disintegrated, electrocuted, so much as back slapped over me!" Her own violent look entered her eyes. "If I want something done to someone, I'll do it myself."

He found himself smiling at her words. "I can agree to those terms." But all he knew, in his mind, was she had never been touched. He would be the first. His insides sang at that thought.

"Why do you suddenly look so smug?" she asked him, suspicious.

"I don't know what you mean by that, beloved."

"You look like you just won the lottery or something!"

"In a way, I did." He then said with full sincerity, "I have you."

"Yes, you do."


	17. One Month Later

"…and that's what's going on," Jamie Lee finished. "It's been an entire month and they still don't want to talk about this. They're not interested in hearing our point of view or sitting down and meeting the guys again or anything."

"So what else has been happening since then? I mean stuff must be awkward at home right now," Bea commented on the other side of the connection.

"Yeah, we've been trying to just lay low since then and just give them some time and space to think things through. I mean, who knows, maybe they'll change their mind if we give them some more time? But it's been a real cold war since then."

Bea was in awe. "You guys sound like you need to burn off some steam."

Jacinda was lying in bed across the room, looking bummed out. "Yeah," Jamie Lee said. "We're not doing too great. This just hurts, you know?" Time had not helped their situation one bit. As it was, it was Friday night and both girls were dutifully at home the way their parents wanted them.

"You guys want to go to a holo-glave?" Bea said out of nowhere.

Jamie Lee's eyes popped open wide and Jacinda was up and at the screen with her sister with the hugest grin. "UM, YES!" the bolder sister said for the both of them.

Jamie smacked Jacinda's backside in censure as she said, "Those start late and end in the wee hours of the morning!"

"Stop being their emotional punching bags!" Bea shouted. "It's not like your parents appreciate you two trying to do what they want while this is all going on anyway! Besides, we can custom make our dance partners so you don't have to worry about dancing with some guy and having your own green-blooded husband/fiancé jealousy reaction. It's not pretty, I assure you, so skip the real dance partners and let's get there early enough to create some!"

Jacinda was on the other side of her saying to Jamie Lee, "Girl, we're in our 20s. Heck, I'm nearly 30! It's time to cut that umbilical cord! Do you still want it attached as we start having our own kids?"

The more Jamie thought about it, the more she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it's about time we had some fun on our own terms, right?"

Bea grinned. "I have to go and get the nanny for my kids first. My goodness, I haven't been out dancing in four years! I haven't been away from the kids in seven _months_! I'll be there for you guys to pick you up in two hours, okay? And don't worry, ladies, I don't need to be out ultra late, okay? Four hours will give me my fill of non-child recreation. I swear, if I have to do another art or craft involving glitter or sticky tape without first getting some adult interaction, someone's going to get hurt by my glue gun! And since I don't abuse children, that person will ultimately be Letant!"

"Hey!" both girls heard the protest from off-camera.

"Love you, sweetie!" she said to her husband with a grin. She turned back to the screen, the grin gone. "Um, yeah, two hours! Bye!"

They both nodded in agreement because she looked so very serious. As soon as the connection cut, Jacinda asked, "She's got kids?"

"Four."

"Wow. I could only HOPE to look that good after just one or two kids," said Jacinda.

* * *

_A/N - I know it's a TINY chapter, but it's the set-up for the next one!  
_


	18. Holo-Glave

_Because sometimes you just need to blow off some steam..._

* * *

Two hours later, both ladies waited downstairs crouched at their front door quietly. They were both looking out to make sure their parents couldn't hear them leave. Already, she was losing her nerve. "Why are we doing this?" whispered Jamie Lee.

"Because we're sticking it to 'The Man'!" Jacinda declared on her own whisper.

"But whose 'The Man'?" asked a confused Jamie.

Pause. "Our father! Let's go."

It was 11:00 p.m. on a Friday night and the two girls snuck out of the house and were running up the block trying to get to the corner. They knew their parents probably didn't know they'd left, but they were both giggling as they ran with their shoes in their hands.

They could just see Bea's hovershuttle descending out of the sky. She landed expertly. The door began to open. "Ladies!" she declared as she stood at the opening of the shuttle. "Your chariot awaits!"

Both sisters looked at one another one last time and then hopped into the shuttle.

"My friend Comfort was supposed to come," said Bea as she sat back behind the controls, "but she couldn't get Koval off of her!"

"Who?!" asked both girls.

"Don't worry, you'll meet her eventually," she said as she piloted the controls and lifted off. "She's human, her husband's Romulan. She usually lives on Romulus with him, but they're here on Earth now trying to see about harvesting more of what they need from the bayou for the cure. And my eyes don't deceive me, Jacinda, because I've seen a lot of Vulcans marrying humans, too. A lot."

"I know," Jacinda said happily. "I feel so bad for my sister because I feel like you guys, I mean it's happening a lot now, but I feel a lot less isolated. I mean, human men are also marrying Vulcan women like crazy. I think we're just all really attracted to one another and we're tired of pretending that we're not."

Jamie Lee sat there, silent as they ascended into the sky. "But what if he wants to keep me there against my will?"

"If you feel that way, why are you engaged to him?" asked Jacinda before Bea could say it.

"What?" Jamie Lee asked.

"Either you trust him or you don't," her sister said.

"Your sister is right. Either you trust him or you don't. Or is something bothering you?" asked Bea as she piloted the shuttle.

Jamie Lee swallowed. "Well he isn't a Senator, you know? Do you worry about your husband having people's legs broken or having someone killed if they do something to you he doesn't like?" she asked.

"Letant?" asked Bea. "Why, do you?"

"The guy is with the Tal'Shiar," Jamie Lee mumbled, though she realized after the fact that Bea actually had _not_ answered the question! "I have to admit, it scares me just a little. On one occasion I had to stop him from sending someone to hurt my old boss on DS9. And let's not even talk about my old boss here who did what he did. I had to stand in front of him and prevent him from leaving the house that night. He wanted to kill him with his own hands!"

"Damn, that's romantic!" Jacinda whispered.

"No, it isn't!" said Jamie. "And your Vulcan would never-"

"Oh, yes, Talon would," Jacinda said. "And he'd do it himself."

"A Vulcan?" Jamie and Bea exclaimed, disbelieving.

"If anyone tells you that Vulcans are naturally peaceful, they don't know what they're talking about. They have to work at that hard! If it wasn't for meditation, we'd all be in some serious trouble." Jacinda sighed, "Jamie, it just sounds like he has a weakness you have to be careful not to exploit. You'll make him a better man, then. Some people would totally use that to their advantage and milk it until one or both of you wound up in prison or something. Good thing he found you and not some crazy chick."

"And if you don't feel right about this," said Bea, "you need to talk to him. I bet it's the reason you haven't set a wedding date yet, right?"

Jamie Lee nodded. "Yes, it's half the reason. Mom and dad are the other."

"Then look," said Bea as she approached the holo-glave area, "tonight, you have some fun! Okay? You have both been through it and I insist you put this out of your mind. The next time you see him, talk to him about it then. But he's not here and you can't talk to him about it right now. So let's go have some fun!"

"Yeah!" Jacinda said as she physically shook her sister while wearing a huge grin.

"Okay, okay!" Jamie Lee smiled. "Let's go have some fun!"

##

They entered the holo-glave after parking. The three ladies filled out a brief questionnaire, had a minor brain scan and then filled out a second questionnaire. It took less than twenty minutes and then their designated dance partners/drink holders materialized from the holo-matrix.

"Enjoy, ladies!" said the receptionist that had set it all in motion for them.

The three of them walked down the hall with their silent dates. That was another feature. Not only were the holo-partners custom made per person according to their tastes and dance styles, they barely spoke. There was no 'small talk'.

"You know, they should really program these guys to talk more," said Jacinda as she watched her silent date for the night. He was closer to her height than Talon. In fact, all of the guys who were their dates were no more than five inches taller than them. "And why are they all so short?"

"They're not 'short'!" protested Jamie Lee. "I think they try to match the guy to your height requirements for an optimal dance experience."

They reached a certain area and could hear music down a hall. They kept going and as they got closer, the music could be heard, louder and louder.

They walked into a huge space the size of an amphitheater and there were people as far as the eye could see. Bodies were gyrating everywhere to semi-electronic music with strong percussions and bass driving the beat. The scene-scape would change from time to time. It was the end of one song and the scene was the middle of the desert. As the last song merged into the next, the scene slowly changed to 'under the sea'.

The three ladies jumped right into the fray. The three of them worked out whatever frustrations they had on the dance floor, not sitting down for quite some time. In that time they danced in the most exotic of locales. From Mars, to Saturn's moon Titan, to a club in Argelius and Betazed's famous Falls of Plenty, each song introduced a new place.

Finally, Jacinda went to go and sit down first, totally exhausted. She told her holo-partner what she wanted to drink and he disappeared to get it for her. As he was returning with her drink, Bea and Jamie Lee went to sit down, as well.

Jacinda's dance partner stood behind her as if he were some kind of bodyguard as she began to sip her drink. The other two ladies put in their drink orders and their holo-partners ran off to go and get them.

"Is our dance therapy night working for you two?" asked Bea with a grin.

"Oh, it's working," Jamie Lee said with a huge happy grin. They were all satisfyingly drenched in sweat. "I haven't been dancing in so long!"

"Why not?" asked Bea.

"She's a nerdy workaholic!" Jacinda answered for her sister. "I didn't even know she'd been dancing at all!" she joked.

"Jake made me go when I first showed up at DS9," Jamie Lee admitted. "And I had to go twice to entertain some clients early in my career. What you drinking?" Jamie Lee asked her sister.

"Rum and cola!" Jacinda declared with a grin. "You girls?"

"Orange juice!" nodded Bea.

"Orange juice?" asked Jamie Lee.

"I had a taste for it," said Bea. "The thought of getting a drink is actually making me gag," she confessed.

"I just wanted seltzer water," Jamie Lee said.

##

They were supposed to be at the holo-glave, dancing until 4:00 a.m. But it hit 2:30 and both Bea and Jacinda were exhausted.

"I'm done, guys!" declared Jacinda as she staggered up to them. "I'm getting old or something!" she said, her words slightly slurred.

"No, you're not getting old!" said Bea. "Because I can't do one more song, and if you're getting old, then I'm definitely getting old!"

"Let's call it a night then," said Jamie Lee. "I could dance more, but this place is _loud_!"

"We _are_ getting old, oh no!" Jacinda laughed a little too loudly.

So they turned in their holo-partners, Bea paid the fee for the three of them as an additional cheer-up treat and then they made their way outside into the cool night air.

"Oh, that air feels so good!" Bea declared with a deep inhale. They made it back to her shuttle while the three of them talked.

"You never had one drink, right?" Jamie Lee asked.

"Neither did you!" Bea said.

"I need to keep a clear head when I go out."

"I only had three," she said, her words slurred a little worse than before. "I'll be sober in one hour!" she boasted loudly with her pointer finger in the air.

They laughed at her as they got back into Bea's shuttle. They were about to take off, when they heard pounding on the hull. "Law enforcement!" the voice declared.

Bea looked back at the girls. She lowered the ramp to see three police officers standing there. "Can we help you, officers?"

"There have been several alcohol related deaths on the way from this establishment and we like to make certain no one is drinking while they fly."

"I can assure you, officers, I did not drink alcohol once tonight," said Bea.

"I can attest to that!" Jamie Lee raised her hand. "I didn't have a real drink either."

"Yeah!" said the obviously drunk Jacinda. "She didn't have one drank! But I did! But I'm not driving so it doesn't matter!" she slurred.

Jamie Lee shook her head, knowing that that just looked bad as the officer asked, "Who's the driver?"

"I am," said Bea.

"You're going to tell me you went to a holo-glave and didn't ingest one scrap of alcohol?" he asked with open suspicion in his eyes.

Bea folded her arms. "I have four children at home waiting for me. I respect law enforcement. However, whatever it is you're trying to do, you're holding up our night. We're tired and we would like to go to bed."

"Yeah,_ bed_!" Jacinda declared raucously from the back of the shuttle. "I need to go to bed," she mumbled.

"She especially needs to go to bed," Bea gestured.

"Then you wouldn't mind submitting to a sobriety test," said the officer with a grin as if he had her on something.

Jacinda, then, began to lie down on the floor of the shuttle. "Sounds like it's gonna take for_ever_! I might as well just sleep here."

"What are you doing?" Jamie Lee hissed at her sister.

"I'm lying down until that jerk is done!" she drunk whispered which didn't come out as a whisper after all. She lay herself out fully on the floor of the shuttle.

"What did she call me?" asked the officer.

"No, that word wasn't in English!" Jamie Lee insisted.

"You said a sobriety test?" asked Bea. "What do I do?"

"Ma'am," said a nicer officer behind the front man, "it's just a simple scan."

Bea narrowed her eyes. "What kind of scanner is that?"

"It's just like a medical tricorder, only it's not!" said the jerk officer, now getting impatient.

"How old is that scanner?" she asked. She knew the police in that district were often given old, outdated equipment. She felt badly for them, but she had her own reasons to worry.

"Why, you got something to hide?" he asked, thinking he really had her then.

She put her hand on her hip. "Old scanners can cause miscarriage and I highly suspect I'm very pregnant… again!"

"No wonder you didn't have a drink!" Jamie Lee said with a huge grin.

"Listen," said the jerk officer. "I don't have all night for this."

The nicer officer was the one to intervene. "We do not have to use the scanner. Just give her the insta-lyzer."

The original officer looked back at him as if he wanted to punch him in the face. "Fine!" he snapped. He looked at the still silent third officer. "Go get it."

"Have it right here!" said the nicer officer as he pulled it out of a bag on his shoulder. "Already sterilized and ready to go."

All Bea had to do was blow her breath into it and she did.

"Perfect!" said the nice officer. "No alcohol content."

The jerk officer looked deflated. "Fine. Have a nice night," he said, but they could tell he didn't mean it.

"Good luck in case you are pregnant!" said the nicer officer with a happy grin and the third officer smiled at them and simply waved.

Bea hit the switch to close the shuttle door, then looked back at Jacinda, now lying on the floor knocked out asleep.

"Do you really think you're pregnant?" asked Jamie Lee with a huge grin.

"I didn't seriously think I was until I got to the club and wanted orange juice all night. Every time that happens, I'm pregnant. Well not orange juice in particular. But some kind of juice! It was guava juice for the triplets and lemonade –pink lemonade- with Lavan. Tonight it was orange juice. And I do not ordinarily drink juice! It has too much sugar content. Guess I'll have to go to the doctor tomorrow to find out for sure."

"Wow, baby number five?" Jamie Lee asked with a wondrous look in her eyes and a huge grin.

"Yes!" Bea said as she took off into the sky with her own happy face.

"You're going to call and tell me yes or no, right?"

"Yes, I'll call you and tell you once I know for sure," Bea promised.

That was punctuated by a very loud snore from Jacinda on the floor as the other ladies began to crack up laughing.


	19. Time To Grow Up

After the fun-filled late night out, Saturday morning was finally the breaking point for Jamie Lee.

She got up early and gave the still sleeping Jacinda a hypo for that hangover she knew she was going to have. "So much for 'I'll be sober in one hour'!" laughed Jamie Lee as Jacinda, half asleep, slapped at the hypo.

She started down the stairs for breakfast on her own then and it sounded as if her parents were downstairs, talking like they normally did every Saturday morning. She just stood on the steps and listened. She hadn't felt the house so tension free in such a long time. But she knew eventually, she was going to have to finish walking downstairs. As soon as she showed her face, the talking abruptly ceased.

She was about to go and make herself something to eat when she realized a series of several something's at that precise moment:

They were not going to change. They thought if they froze her out long enough, her feelings for Rekar would suddenly evaporate. Or even worse, she knew that they knew she would still have deep feelings for him but would endure the pain of giving him up simply to make them happy. And why would they think otherwise? It had always been this way.

They had always been strict parents where the rules were the rules and they expected them to be followed. When she was younger she didn't mind that, expected it, she even liked the very defined boundaries. But now that she was an adult, it was starting to feel like a cage. The problem was that she had never gotten out of little girl mode when it came to their feelings about her life. She realized then that that was the root of why she was afraid of going to Romulus with Rekar. Romulan life, she knew, was going to be vastly different than life in the Federation. And she was not yet fully aware of what those ways were. She was afraid if she left here, she would go there and wind up in another kind of prison of restriction of her behavior. But she knew it was time to stop being afraid and start living and finding things out on her own.

She looked at her parents then with a different set of eyes. They were sitting at the breakfast table, trying their best to be as obvious as possible that they had an attitude with her. They were not going to change and neither was she.

Jamie Lee made up her mind in that moment. She turned right back around without a word and went back up the steps. Jacinda had slept in her room that night because Jamie Lee didn't feel right about leaving her on her own knocked out drunk. She felt badly for her sister because she knew it was not normal for her to go and get drunk like that and behave this way. She had to have been miserable to do something so out of character.

As soon as she entered her bedroom, Jamie saw her sister sitting up and rubbing her head. "This headache is not as bad as it could be," Jacinda already realized. "It's actually leaving. You gave me a shot, didn't you?"

Jamie Lee smiled over at her and nodded as she pulled her closet door open and took out her suitcase. She didn't say a word as she began packing some essentials.

"What are you doing?" whispered Jacinda.

"I'm done trying," she admitted. "I just went downstairs to the coldest cold front. And I said to myself, 'what are you doing? You know what they want and you know you're not going to give it to them'. I mean, we've got ourselves a good old fashioned stand-off happening in this very house." She kept packing. "Well I'm not doing it anymore. I'm going to Rekar and I'm having breakfast with him today and every day hereafter. I'm done being cookie-cutter perfect daughter."

"So you're leaving for good?" asked Jacinda.

"Yes. And I think you should do the same thing. I mean we're adults. We shouldn't even be here. It's the reason they think they have a right to rule our lives."

"To tell you the truth, I was waiting here with you until you made up your mind."

Jamie Lee looked over at her, shocked. "What?"

"I kind of… um… Talon and I kind of jumped the gun in a way and I'm kind of technically already married according to Vulcan law."

She smiled nice and huge. "When?"

"That day I yelled at mom and dad, you know, my 'how dare you' speech? Well when I went to see Talon that day and my emotions were all over the place and he was trying to comfort me and—things kind of got out of control and stuff happened and we kind of bonded prematurely."

Jamie Lee looked at her and almost started to cry. "I'm so happy for you!" she exclaimed as she hugged her sister.

"Okay, okay!" Jacinda said as she stood up quickly. "I gotta go pack, too. If we're leaving for good, at least we can go walking out of here together!"

##

It was one thing to say they were going to leave, suitcases in hand. But cowardice reared its head as they were about to walk down the stairs.

"Are you scared?" whispered Jacinda.

"Yep."

"Want to go back in your room and throw our bags out of the window and into the bushes so they don't see them while we're on our way out?"

Jamie Lee nodded rapidly. "Yep." They were about to walk back into her room when Jamie Lee suddenly and sharply turned back around. "No," she declared.

Jacinda looked shocked. "No?"

Whenever anything went down with their parents, Jacinda was the one who was braver about declaring her intentions. Jamie Lee usually wound up caving in or trying to compromise with them. "I'm done with this pretending to be perfect crap! Right or wrong, I'm not hiding anymore!" she shouted as she stormed downstairs, suitcases in hand.

Jacinda was right behind her with her own bag slung over her shoulder and another in her other hand.

The parents must have expected this, because they acted as if they didn't care about the bags their girls were carrying. "We're leaving," Jamie Lee announced. "We thought it was only right to let you know that we're leaving. We'll come back sometime next week and pick up all our stuff that we've bought over the years and put it in storage or whatever. According to law we have 45 days to pick up our stuff, we'll get it done in seven."

"So where do you two plan on going?" their mother asked sarcastically. "Jamie Lee, your old apartment is gone and Jacinda, you're still in debt for that bad decision you made about investing in your ex-boyfriend's business. So where else do you two plan on going? With your so-called _boyfriends_?"

"Pardon you!" Jamie Lee said, "But that's my business, not yours!"

"How dare you!" her father shouted as he slapped his PADD down on the table. They could hear the distinct 'crack' of the screen. "That is not how we raised you, to talk to us this way!"

Nirmala began to look very worried. "Girls, rethink this! That Romulan wants to marry you, Jamie Lee, but what do you know about him, really? How do you know he won't hurt you?"

"How did you know dad wouldn't hurt you?" she asked honestly.

Their father harrumphed and looked away as he shook his head angrily.

"Seriously," said Jamie Lee. "Didn't she come to this country just to marry you after you'd met her? She'd never been here, none of her family was from here, so she came here to marry you and how did you know, mom, that he wasn't going to hurt you?"

It was as if her father didn't hear a word she said. "You stupid girls think love will solve it all, right? And you think that Vulcan is going to _marry_ you?" he asked Jacinda.

"Newflash!" Jacinda shouted. "We're _already _married! I just couldn't leave my little sister here in _this_!" She narrowed her eyes. "You're so afraid we might think for ourselves and make our own mistakes and maybe even do a little bit well, right?"

"That isn't the case!" their mother protested. "You aren't doing this correctly. You're supposed to get our approval first-"

"Well you weren't giving it to us!" Jamie Lee interjected. "We're not kids anymore where you expect us to just bow to everything and give in because you're the adults and that's it! We grew up and it's like you didn't notice! We have always respected you! But no matter what we did to earn it, you didn't respect us!"

"I don't care what you call yourselves right now," said Jacob. "If you walk out of that door and ruin your lives with these men, don't call on us when you have problems."

Both sisters were seething with anger, but at that moment, Jacinda felt the presence of Talon taking over and calming her system. Her countenance relaxed, and she took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. She opened her eyes a second later. "I don't care what happens after this because I can't control it. Talon says he is always willing to talk anytime you want. I'm going to leave now and go to him and stay with him because I'm already his wife. By the way, just so you know I'll be okay, I've met his parents and they approve of me. They think the work I've done in tectonic studies is 'fascinating'. We leave for Vulcan in a month." She turned, picked up her bags and went for the door.

Jamie Lee was still standing there, looking back at them. Her eyes held unshed tears. "Don't you go, Jamie Lee," her father cautioned. And there were tears in his eyes, too.

"I have to, dad," she said softly.

"Don't come back then!" her mother shouted after her, and there were no tears in her eyes.

Jamie Lee knew it was her mother's high emotions talking. But it still really hurt to hear that. She looked her in the eyes for what she hoped wasn't the last time. "I tried to make you both happy and do everything you wanted me to all the time. But when is it my turn to think for myself, to make my own mistakes, to learn for myself?" She turned sadly and walked out of the house and saw Jacinda standing there, bags in hand just like her. "And now?" she asked.

"Talon already knew we were leaving from when I was packing. He should be here in less than three minutes. It's too bad this subdivision has shuttle restrictions. We could have had our own shuttles in all this and drove ourselves away."

The two sat down on the curb in front of their childhood home and Jamie Lee looked over at her sister, tears in her eyes. "I guess that needed to happen," she whispered.

"I know it did. But it still hurts," admitted Jacinda.

"Yeah, it hurts."

"So when you getting married?" she asked, trying to find a little grin.

"I don't know."

"Even though Talon and I are technically already married, you want to come to our little ceremony next week?"

Jamie Lee grinned. "Sure."

"Be my maid of honor?" she asked.

She felt more tears in her eyes. "Sure." She nodded rapidly. "Want to come to me and Rekar's destination wedding?"

"Destination wedding?" she asked on a laugh. "When did you decide on that?"

"I've always wanted one. I think we should be able to scare one up before you guys leave for Vulcan. I want to get married on a beach somewhere, I don't care where."

Jacinda nodded. "Yeah, yeah we'll be there. Talon already agrees."

"That bond thing is so cool!"

"Romulans don't do that?"

"I don't think so. But they have that hand link thing," she giggled.

"You know, you can come to Vulcan anytime you want, anytime you need me," said Jacinda. "No questions asked."

"Same for me. Deep Space 9 or Romulus, just come."

Talon pulled up then and Jamie Lee found herself grinning excessively as she looked at him. "Well well well," she said as she climbed into his groundcar. "This is Talon! Nice to meet you, brother-in-law."

"Likewise, my sister-in-law. Shall I bring you to the residence of he who shall soon be my brother-in-law?"

Jamie Lee was hit with a wave of fear and felt tears threatening to engulf her. "Yes."

Talon touched his fingers to Jacinda's and looked at her for a couple of seconds. He then turned to Jamie Lee. "We are family now. My sister, you must remember that you are always welcomed in our home."

"Likewise," she choked out. She was afraid for the future. But she seemed to be gaining so much more. It wouldn't replace what she was losing, but it was time for her to grow up.


	20. Intentions

Rekar gave her her own room in another wing of the mansion and her own security detail. Though she pretended she was quite all right, he could see that she showed signs of hurting and being slightly uncertain of the future. She also didn't eat very well compared to the way she had when they had first met and then reunited on Deep Space 9.

Despite that, she wouldn't talk about it and she still pushed forward with life. As soon as she told him her idea for a destination wedding at the very end of the month so her sister and her husband could be there, he was immediately on board with it. "Yes!" he jumped at the opportunity. He didn't care who was coming, so long as Jamie Lee married him as soon as possible. And this was much sooner than he ever thought possible!

##

The following week was a crazy whirlwind of activity. Jamie Lee was going to Jacinda and Talon's on an almost every day basis to help her sister with her wedding preparations and last minute running around. It wasn't going to be a large affair but there was a lot that needed to be done before the day came. Afterward, the two were going on a week's honeymoon to an undisclosed location.

The first time Jamie Lee met Talon's parents, they were indeed very welcoming of her sister into their family. They also extended a welcome to her anytime she wished to avail herself of their hospitality on Vulcan.

Time slipped forward and she finally began to relax a little and enjoy the fact that she was with the man she loved. At the end of every day, Jamie Lee and Rekar would settle down in front of the main house fireplace and cuddle up while continuing their wedding plans. They had decided to have it on old Tybee Island just off of Savannah, Georgia. Their guest list was referred to by her sister as 'cozy'. It would be: themselves, Jacinda and Talon, Talon's parents, Letant and Bea and their four children.

"Do you have any childhood friends you wish to attend?" asked Rekar.

"No, but Bea mentioned Comfort and Koval are on Earth right now. Can we invite them? I've never met them, but I think that'd be cool, to have another couple of our kind there."

"That is fine," said Rekar.

"Oh! I almost forgot my friend from when I was growing up, this girl I went to school with. I'll invite her. And you know what? Talon has a brother and a cousin here, I'm going to invite them, too. I mean that's only fair, the whole family is here in from Vulcan. You want any of your soldiers to go?" she asked as she looked up into his face.

He shook his head as he appreciated the feel of her so close to him. "No. I do not want to become attached to this new crew."

She looked at him, curious. "What do you mean by that?"

He looked down at her with a strange expression on his face. "I have thought very much about my life, the way you have been thinking of yours. You have made brave decisions. You have inspired bravery within me I did not previously have."

"Rekar?" She shook her head on a light laugh. "Bravery? You're the soldier, not me."

"I have served in the military long enough to retire. There is nothing holding me there. However, the Tal'Shiar," he sighed. "I also have decided for different reasons that I can no longer stay there."

She was really surprised and didn't want to push him one way or another. She tried to hide her happiness, not about his retiring from the military but about leaving the Tal'Shiar. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"I have done things I am not proud of," he confessed as he looked down at her. "Someone like you deserves a full husband, not part of one. And if I continued to serve with them I know I will eventually be asked to do yet another act that I will be expected to carry out without question. And I would. But I cannot do these things and then come home to you as if I had not done them, lying by omission. I do not want to be that way with you. I have been told that the artifacts will be released to me in six weeks time. We leave Earth then. Do you come with me or will you stay here for the time being?"

"Of course I'm coming with you, we'll already be married by then!"

He squeezed her gently and felt a plunk in his stomach as he said, "Then I will take you back to Deep Space 9 and you will remain there and wait for me until I am done."

"But Rekar, why can't I go with-"

"You must not! I cannot bring you to Romulus until I have carried out what I must. I cannot allow you to be used as a pawn against me by the Tal'Shiar!" he said. He swallowed and felt real fear for the first time in a long time as he admitted, "I was not truthful about my telepathic abilities. They are not minimal. They are not as great as the average Vulcan, but they are there. They would like to keep me for their own purposes, if not to carry out missions in the guise of a military man, then at least to conduct their macabre telepathic experiments on me. But at this point, according to the rules of service, I have served long enough and I deserve to retire from both. And so I shall. So long as they have nothing to threaten me with, they cannot use anything against me. I will not bring my wife there for them to take you and use you to keep me before I have received the blade of honor in my hand of my house, the one that belonged to my father. I would be my own man then, no longer belonging to them."

She didn't understand how she knew, but she did. "You're going to take your name back."

He nodded. "Do you approve?"

She reached up and gently ran her hand along his chin. "Yes, I approve."

He looked down at the jewelry around her wrist with that name on it and still couldn't believe she had fully agreed to become his. "I did not think it was possible for a human woman to understand me so well."

"Same thought for me, but with a Romulan."

"We are well matched," he said with contentment as his heated eyes flirted with hers.

##

Time passed quickly. Jacinda and Talon's wedding was an intimate and lovely evening affair. Bea and Letant went to it as well as their children and some of Jacinda's friends.

A few of the Siskos actually did show up, though not their parents. Their grandfather Joseph showed up, seemingly at the last minute, and walked Jacinda down the aisle. Later that night, he let Jamie Lee know that when her day came, he would be there for her, too.

"Why the change of heart, grandpa?" Jamie Lee asked during the evening reception when she got an opportunity to sit and talk with him one on one.

He shook his head. He looked very sharp in his old style tuxedo. "Jake told me times were changing and I needed to get in gear or I would be left behind. It didn't occur to me until then, the edges of things I remember from the past, old prejudices we carry that never quite leave even though new generations are born and don't know anything about them." He looked down at his granddaughter. "You girls don't know anything about that stuff and why should I put it there? You know how most humans see Ferengi. But I used to get tube grubs, fresh and alive, to feed to Nog just because he was Jake's friend when he was in Starfleet."

"Ew!" Jamie Lee said on a giggle.

And that quickly, to him, she was seven in a brand new spring dress and straw hat, trying to look as proper as possible while struggling into a pair of white gloves. He blinked tears out of his eyes. "You're still my little Jay Lee, just as pretty and smart as you always were. And you are old enough now to make your own decisions no matter what anyone else thinks, little girl. I love you. I don't care what happens, good or bad, you call me anytime."

Her eyes were watering fiercely. "I love you, too, grandpa."

"I'm going to go and talk to Jacinda now before she leaves."

"See you later, grandpa."


	21. All Males Are On Notice

Their wedding was upon them quickly. But before that, Jamie Lee went and visited a specialist. She didn't even tell Rekar what she was doing, but she had spoken to Bea ahead of time about certain things and wanted to take special care with her reproductive health.

She left the doctor's with a time released prescription that dispensed every day into her blood stream. They had also administered a separate injection of genetic nano-facilitators to her bloodstream for their special purpose. The entire thing was a just-in-case for their future children since they had assured her that it rarely, if ever, worked within the first three months.

Jacinda had come back from her honeymoon two weeks before. She was there after that to help Jamie Lee with the mad dash going on before her own wedding the way she had helped with hers.

"Our anniversaries are going to be like three weeks apart," laughed Jacinda as she buttoned Jamie Lee up into her wedding dress that morning. They were camped out in their own little beach house for the bride on Tybee Island right near the water. The guys were already at the ceremony site a mere five minute drive away.

Bea and Comfort were there as well that morning, making tiny suggestions about hair and make-up as Jamie Lee got ready. Though they had just met, Comfort and Jamie Lee had hit it off famously.

Little Bianca, Bea's only daughter, was with them as well, busy off to the side trying to color Jamie Lee a picture for her wedding gift to her and Rekar. Jamie Lee's grandfather had stopped by earlier to drop off her bouquet. Talon's mother, then, unexpectedly showed up. "May I enter?" she asked formally as she looked through the screen door. She was dressed in Vulcan robes, but they looked quite dressy since they were a soft tan with a red under dress peeking out at the bottom of the hemline, at the wrists and at the neckline.

"Come in, Lady T'Pima," Jamie Lee said happily. As Talon's mother entered the beach house, Jamie asked, "How's your guest house here on Tybee?" The bride, despite her busyness, had made certain their house was not too close to the beach, and that it had a special dehumidifier built into the filtration system. It also maintained a constant excess of twenty degrees in comparison to whatever temperature it was that day. There was also a fireplace for nighttime extra heating.

"I thank you for your efforts at keeping us very warm and dry," she said with full sincerity as she sat down on the couch with the other ladies. The specially altered house was the warmest and driest she had been since coming to Earth.

Jamie Lee was only able to look over at Bea out of the side of her eye since her make-up was being done by her friend Rosalie from school. But she was able to ask, "How are you feeling, Bea? How's the baby?"

Bea smiled happily as she held up her freshly made carrot, apple, ginger juice concoction. "This is the latest craving," she laughed. "The doctors are confident that he's doing just fine."

"He?" asked Jacinda excitedly. "Already, they know?"

"It's nearly 10 weeks, they'd better know!" she laughed. "But this is Jamie Lee's day. How do _you_ feel, blushing bride?"

Jamie Lee's make-up was finally done and Rosalie had already started on her hair. She was able to look down at her empire waist halter top gown. It had a very thin line of Deltan crystals just below the bust that ran around the entire circumference of the dress. With all of the stress she had been going through, she was even tinier by then. "How did I get so small?" she asked as she looked in the mirror a little sadly, her eyes beginning to water a little.

"No! Not now!" Jacinda pleaded, trying to head her tears off at the pass, though she had had her own tear-soaked moment a few weeks before at her wedding that Jamie Lee and Bea had had to talk her down from. "Don't be sad now! It's your big day! And grandpa came," Jacinda reminded her. "He's waiting to walk you down the aisle."

Rosalie handed her a handkerchief, "Catch it at the corner of the eye. That's it, just like that!"

Comfort then piped in, "And you just look so beautiful in that dress! Don't destroy your make-up with tears. My parents didn't come to my weddin' neither and Koval and I are doin' just fine, and you'll be all right, too! It's gone be all right."

Jamie Lee turned and looked over at the lovely redhead and nodded. "Thanks, Comfort. That was… comforting?"

All of the ladies in the room except for the distracted Bianca and T'Pima laughed out loud in a burst of nerves.

"Oh and by the way! Jan says as soon as you get to Romulus, you know after you divert to DS9, we're going to have a GHW get-together with all the ladies," Comfort nodded informatively. "So give us all a call when you're finally settled in."

"GHW?" asked Jamie Lee.

"Green Hemoglobin Wives," interjected Bianca seriously as she continued to color.

"That means I could technically go, too," laughed Jacinda.

"Yes, you could!" said Bea.

"You'll be on Vulcan by then," said Jamie Lee, wishing her sister could be there with her for the first few weeks, at least.

Jacinda smiled. "I talked to Talon and he's just as concerned about the way you've been doing lately. We decided that when you go to Romulus, if you want, I'll go there and so will he for a time so you can settle in and not feel so strange, all right?"

"I shall come, as well," T'Pima interjected.

"Why would you do that?" Jamie Lee asked Talon's mother. She knew it would most certainly not be a comfortable place for any Vulcans to step into.

"You are in need of parents at this time. I am a parent. I am willing to extend this role to both you and your sister when needed. At this time, logically, it is needed."

The gesture was so unexpected, Jamie Lee really felt the tears trying to break free at that point. She began to fan her face. "Make it stop, make it stop!" she declared.

"If we slap you," Comfort shouted rapidly on a huge laugh, "you'll get mad and then you won't be crying anymore!"

The ladies dissolved into more laughter at that point and Jamie Lee at least no longer felt like she was going to cry.

##

Rekar was sitting at the wedding site in his dress uniform. It was strange to him to consider, it was probably the last time he would wear it. "You look nervous," said Letant as he walked up to him with a sleeping toddler on his shoulder, his usual half grin on his face.

Rekar knew by then that that was just his taunting way. "I am in fact quite nervous," he admitted as he sipped on a glass of kali-fal.

"This early, commander?" taunted the Senator as he looked at the glass of alcohol.

"In the words of Jamie Lee's grandfather, 'it's 5 o'clock somewhere'."

Letant pulled a tiny Hershey's kiss from his pocket. "This will take the edge off even better paired with that."

Rekar at first looked at it, fully suspect. He figured after about two seconds that he had nothing to lose, accepted the small chocolate, took off the wrapping and popped the entire tiny teardrop shaped confection into his mouth. "This is exquisite!" he declared as he looked over at Letant. It was over much too soon!

"I know, isn't it? I carry them to all Romulan Human weddings now. I even slipped one to the Vulcan two weeks ago before his marriage to Jamie Lee's sister. I find the groom usually needs it."

"Do they sell these on Romulus?" he asked, wondering how this had ever escaped his notice.

"Unfortunately, no. This is an Earth invention predating First Contact for them. One of those superior things we were speaking of before that they have but we do not."

Rekar got the gleam of an idea on his face. "I think I might know what my next career is going to entail…"

##

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride," said their officiant. They had compromised and received a special license to hire a Vedek from Bajor's embassy to marry them. The Vedek had jumped at the chance to unite a Sisko in marriage according to the laws of Earth.

The couple had had an initial dispute about who should unite them. To compromise, it was immediately decided that it could not be a human or a Romulan. Jamie Lee suggested a Vulcan priest and Rekar became very offended. She still didn't know why, but he had muttered something about being implanted with some kind of seven year mating curse if a priest came anywhere near his mind. She waved his words off and took the idea of the Vulcan priest right off the table since it offended him so much. They settled on a Vedek since they had both met on Deep Space 9 in Bajoran space.

The groom kissed the bride until she was dizzy and then turned to the crowd and declared, "She is truly mine now! All males are on notice, this is _my_ woman!"

Jamie Lee, of course, only put her hand on her hip as she shook her head. "Egotist." But her grin was huge.

* * *

_A/N - This tale has about ten chapters left, so you're 2/3 through. Will Rekar be able to retire from the Tal'Shiar? That's the big question now...  
_


	22. I Won't Tell

_A/N - This chapter is inspired by Ahlysha's review of chapter 21! She mentioned what would happen if Rekar tasted a higher quality chocolate? So I 'went there'. No worries, it's still rated 'T'! But my mind did run away with the possibilities of what it would truly mean. I still haven't figured out the full repercussions of what I've done to this couple...  
_

* * *

Jacinda and Talon along with his extended family had already left for Vulcan by the time Jamie Lee returned from her honeymoon. She was speaking to Bea on the house screen in the mansion's kitchen.

"What are you doing, Jamie Lee?"

"Making dinner!" she answered happily as she chopped up sausages. "I don't have to start packing for another two days, so I figured I'd live life normally until then. How are you? What are you doing?"

Bea looked just a little bit miserable. "This pregnancy is already kicking my booty! I had to get the part-time nanny back. If I walk around for too long, my sciatic nerve on the left side screams at me. If I sit down too long, it screams at me. It's only satisfied if I lie down and who wants to do that all day long? Besides, I have all of these kids and I've got things I have to do for them! To top it off, I'm not even showing yet and my back hurts! And a little word to the wise, kids sense when you can't keep up and they gang up on you!" she laughed.

"Ouch, I'm sorry," said Jamie Lee as she put the cut up sausages aside and began chopping peppers.

"When do you guys leave for Deep Space 9?"

"Well Rekar says they're releasing the artifacts in four days, so we ship out right after that. I'm going to start packing day after tomorrow. It shouldn't take too long. I already scheduled for the furniture place to come and pick everything up four hours before we leave, so as we're leaving they should be here finishing up loading the trucks."

Bea tried to be delicate as she asked, "Have you spoken to your parents yet?"

Jamie Lee shook her head as she put down the cutting knife. It was obvious she was fighting back tears. "No. But I just have to deal with it, right? I knew what my decision meant. I'm just glad T'Pima's taken this so personal. I don't know why. But she called me two days ago from Vulcan to see how I was. I was a little shocked."

"A Vulcan called you to see how you were doing?" asked Bea, also shocked.

"Well she is a mom, right?" said Jamie Lee. "And for all we know, Jacinda asked her to call or something."

"That's true. So…" Bea said as she gave off a silly little grin. "How _was_ your—_honeymoon_?"

Jamie Lee blushed deeply as she almost dropped the rice onto the floor that she was trying to measure out. "We went on a cruise of the Caribbean on Rekar's private yacht."

"And, uh, you know," she giggled. "How were… things?"

"Oh," she said, flustered. "Well… it was, um… it was nice," she giggled in return and then she began to laugh out loud. "You're so bad!"

"It's more fun to be bad!" she laughed. "But don't tell the children I said that!" she whispered conspiratorially.

##

Rekar came home that night with the largest grin ever. "I just made a deal that will figure largely into my new career."

She looked over at him and smiled. "What's that?" she asked as she went over and gave him a lingering kiss.

He pulled her into his arms fully. "I'm bringing those little chocolate kisses to Romulus."

She laughed out loud.

"What?" he asked.

"How is that such a big deal?"

"You aren't aware of the affect chocolate has on Rigellians, in general?"

She frowned. "No."

"The effect is similar to alcohol on humans. So I'm going to buy them in bulk as an approved seller and then I get to go to Romulus and sell them to disgustingly rich families to stock next to their kali-fal!"

"Small quantities?" she asked. "They must be potent on you guys if you're supposed to ingest them in small quantities."

"Yes," he admitted.

"What about advisories on them so children, pregnant women and pets are kept away from them?"

"Yes, Jamie Lee, yes! What do you think of my career change, though?" he asked almost impatiently.

She grinned. "Rekar: Bringing Naughty to Romulus," she captioned with her hands.

"That's a good idea!" he said. "I will give them out for free as a promotional to newly married couples."

"How come I've never seen you under the influence of chocolate?" she asked almost jealously. "But you'll be giving them away to couples?"

"You did. How do you think I got through our wedding day? Kali-fal and one Hershey's kiss. And then there was that infamous fifth day of our honeymoon…" his words trailed off as he looked at her suggestively.

She realized then that he had, in fact, been popping Hershey's kisses all of the fifth day of their honeymoon. That was also the day he had kind of lost his mind and made her more than just scream from his amorous advances. When she'd awoken the next day, she was barely able to move, her body was so sore from over exertion. "Oh," she said in realization. "I_ have_ seen you under the influence of chocolate!"

He pulled her in closer and lifted her onto the counter. "I see you remember that day," he whispered. "Would you like a recreation?"

"Don't you dare, Rekar! I'm cooking dinner right now!"

"Oh, don't you worry, Jamie Lee. I'll fulfill that promise later," he whispered into her neck before he nipped her once and then set her free.

"Besides, that's diluted chocolate. You've never had the pure dark stuff, have you?"

"What pure dark stuff?" he asked.

She stopped cooking for a couple of seconds. "You're for real? You've never had dark chocolate?"

"What is this 'dark' chocolate?"

An evil look overtook her features. "Can we go out shopping for dessert after dinner?"

##

They stood in the aisle of a large supermarket chain that had an entire section devoted to chocolates of every kind. Rekar was in the process of losing his mind just a little, "What this?"

"Dark chocolate infused with raspberry flavor."

He threw it into their cart. "What about this?"

"Chocolate orange."

"Oooh!" he said and threw it into the cart, as well. "And this?"

"Dark chocolate with a soft truffle center and-"

He threw it into the cart without hearing the rest. "And this?"

"Chocolate and nuts with-"

"With nuts!" he said and threw it into the cart.

"Why don't you just take one of everything?" she said sarcastically.

The sarcasm part was lost on him as Rekar happily threw one of everything into their cart.

They went to the front of the store to pay and Jamie Lee smiled at the cashier. "Whoa!" the cashier exclaimed. "You guys got enough chocolate here?"

"I'm opening a store," said Rekar.

The cashier started laughing. She apparently thought he was joking.

##

Jamie Lee ran into the house with 75% of the chocolate Rekar had purchased and literally hid someplace so that he couldn't find it.

"Did you just steal my chocolate, wife?" he laughed as she walked back into their living room with a small amount of chocolate in a bag.

"I don't want you to OD or something!" she complained.

He smiled down at her. "You simply don't want to pay for this decision you've made."

She frowned. "Pay? I'm trying to keep you from a hangover or whatever you call a chocolate overload."

"You're just trying to keep me from becoming too amorous," he said with a grin.

"You mean this stuff…" she realized it wasn't only just like alcohol on him. Uh-Oh. She thought he had been kidding before about the amorous effects. He wasn't. All right, then. She figured if they kept it simple that would be better and at least nothing too crazy would happen that night. It wouldn't do for them to burn the mansion down or something. "Okay. Let's start with this one." She pulled one out and read the label to him. "'A chocolate truffle center with a dark chocolate shell and coated in hazelnuts and coconut.' Oh, I want one, too!" she exclaimed.

She handed one of the small circles over to him and took one for herself.

They both ate one each and Rekar looked at her as if his senses had just been exploded from the inside. "Oh my goodness," he said as he chewed. "Who would think to put together such a combination?" he asked in awe.

She pulled another kind of tiny chocolate out of the bag. "It's not dark chocolate, but try this one. I LOVE it! It's chocolate with peanut butter."

He loved it. He loved it so much, he ate two. "I'm going to have to see about stocking these as well!"

She smiled over at him. "Okay. This is probably dangerous, so please promise me you will only eat _one_ square."

"I promise. How much better than these can it be?" he asked. They were a little flat square and it didn't look like much to him.

She gave him one square of 80% pure cocoa. "It's a little bitter," she said as she ate it. "But I do love the dark stuff with wine. I should have had wine," she mused as she failed to pay attention to what was happening to Rekar as he chewed.

He was sitting there and he could actually feel his consciousness expanding as he stared at his wife. "Jamie Lee," he whispered as he looked at her. She was sitting next to him on the floor, sitting on her legs, nibbling almost demurely at her own square of almost pure cocoa. His heart rate was quickening as he looked at the fine quality of her skin, the skin he enjoyed looking at, touching, kissing so much. "Jamie," he whispered. "I love you," he said simply.

She smiled over at him, taken aback at first. He usually wasn't so lovey dovey and… uh oh. His eyes had gone black. "Rekar?" she whispered.

He was putting down what was left of his second square of chocolate, the one he was not supposed to eat, wiping his hands on a towel. "My wife," he whispered. "You realize, we are truly united now? Truly?" he asked as if he were only just starting to grasp the concept.

Her world turned upside down as he lay down and pulled her straight on top of him. "Rekar, I think that chocolate has gotten to you now!"

"It has," he said as he rolled directly on top of her. "I don't know any other way to express the deepness of my regard for you, everything about you!" he said passionately as his fingers softly skimmed her face.

She felt something strange and gasped. It was almost the same feeling as when they touched hands but this ran much deeper. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," he admitted as his fingers seemed to instinctually find some points on her face and he pressed softly. "Can you feel my love for you?" he whispered.

She was temporarily overwhelmed as something like the sensation of a liquid version of him was pouring into her. She was panicked, entranced and overwhelmed with deep love and heat and everything about him that she knew before was in there, but now she knew it as an _**absolute fact**_.

As his hand moved from her face, it was trembling and he was watching her in awe. "That's never happened before," he whispered.

They were both breathing heavily as they looked into each others' eyes. The next thing they knew, they were in an almost battle to get their clothes off as fast as possible. It was worse than urgent since Rekar found himself ripping her out of her dress and everything else that got in his way.

##

"What was that?" she whispered much later on. She could still feel the echo of him in the back of her mind. "What_ is_ that?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he admitted as he pulled her in closer and softly kissed her shoulder. They were both covered in bites and bruises that were still in the process of forming.

The fireplace crackled not too far away. Even now he found himself staring down into her eyes, wanting her again. "I don't think that was supposed to happen," he admitted halfway ashamed.

"You mean with the telepathy?" she whispered.

"It's discouraged," he said. "We're not supposed to_ use_ it… not like that. Not during lovemaking."

"What's the use of having it?" she asked. Having him there, dancing in the back of her mind like that. Things felt very different between them now. "I won't tell anyone," she whispered.

As he looked down into her eyes again, he could feel her love for him, feel she truly meant it. She wouldn't tell anyone of this forbidden telepathic contact with her. "I love you," he whispered down at her again. "I _LOVE_ YOU!"

She could feel the tide of it coming over him again and knew what was coming. She welcomed it with open arms. It was a long night that stretched into morning.


	23. Connection

_A/N - Special shout-out to Ahlysha for being my 150th reviewer. You know what that means. You get another 'two-chapter Friday' thanks to her!_

* * *

Jamie Lee stood in Rekar's quarters alone, watching the stars slip by. They were already on their way back to Deep Space 9 and she was dreading being separated from him again. The last time they weren't even married yet and she had been so miserable. But this time, what would happen? Things had been so difficult lately. Why did it have to be so hard? Was it because she had taken several leaps into the unknown? Would she stumble about and get her footing eventually, learn to negotiate the new path she was walking? She used to feel so in charge of her life, the master of her destiny. But not anymore.

She began to wonder exactly when things had started falling apart in her life. Ever since she left Earth to go to Deep Space 9? She didn't know. But it seemed to be one problem after another ever since then. Maybe her mom and dad were right. Maybe her relationship with Rekar would lead to one problem after another? What was next? She struggled with doubts and fear for a short time and then she came to a conclusion.

If things were rough around the edges, that was just too bad. She wasn't giving him up. The thought of leaving him, or never seeing him again, made her feel panicked and sick. Things were rough now and she suspected they were going to get rougher. But eventually she had faith that these issues would finally be settled and their situation would stabilize, maybe even get better. She was holding out for the 'better' part.

She didn't know how long she had been standing there, looking out into space, thinking. Rekar was walking up behind her before she realized it and she nearly jumped out of her skin with shock.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, worried, as his hands rubbed up and down her arms. "I'm sorry I frightened you," he whispered as he pulled her in closer and tried to calm her nerves.

"I was just standing here thinking since you left."

"I've been gone over an hour," he said, a little alarmed. "You haven't moved once in an hour?"

"Oh. No."

He knew she was sad and the root of it lay with her parents. "Did they never call and speak with you?"

She knew to whom he was referring and shook her head. "No."

He pushed back his anger toward them. They were putting a pall on things between them and they weren't even there! He pulled in even closer and hugged her tight. "We will be fine, I assure you of that," he crooned as he rubbed her back softly. "We be on board for a couple of days and then we'll get to DS9 and spend four days together before I go."

She looked up at him and tried to hold back tears. "Okay," she said in a tremulous voice. And then the tears were rolling.

Rekar was immediately saddened. "I will not be gone longer than two months, Jamie Lee," he tried to say in a reassuring tone.

"Two _months_?" she said and then the tears were rolling faster.

"Three at the most," he had to admit.

"Three _**months**_?" she said even louder. She found herself pushing him away from her and hugging herself. She was coming apart and knew it and didn't know how to stop it.

He sat down and pulled her back to him, sat her down on his lap. "I'll arrange for you to have the best and biggest apartment on DS9. It's one of the luxury suites. If you want, Jake can even move in with you."

"That's all right," she said as she sniffled and pulled out a kerchief she kept in her pocket. "I'll just move back in with Jake until you come and get me. He's still living in the two bedroom and there's more than enough room." She was quickly cleaning up her face with the kerchief and trying to pull herself together.

Rekar sighed. He knew better than to try and change her mind. Maybe time with a family member was what she needed while he was gone. "All right," he relented.

##

They arrived at Deep Space 9 to something Jamie Lee never expected to encounter. A huge party in honor of their marriage in one of the storage wings complete with a spread of every kind of food you could imagine. Leeta and Kira had arranged for a head table and chairs for Jamie Lee and Rekar to sit at. Her new husband looked as if he didn't know what to think.

"We love you, Jamie," said Jake as he came to the front of the room and gave her a hug and a kiss.

But when other males of DS9 tried to step forward and give Jamie Lee hugs and kisses, Rekar gave them all one deadly look and they got the point. They backed off of her personal space and let all of the ladies of the station hug and kiss her instead.

Later during the festivities, Rekar saw Julian Bashir speaking to Jamie Lee off to the side at one point. He could tell it was a serious conversation. She was nodding her head and agreeing to something.

As soon as she sat down next to him, he asked casually, "Something wrong?"

"Julian's a doctor and he's always in doctor mode. He sees the size I am now compared to when he met me and he's worried. He wants me to come in for an exam next week sometime."

He was still trying to act casual as he commented, "Perhaps he is correct. Perhaps you should be careful of this to make certain you do not become too small. Yes, I think it is necessary for you to do so."

She looked over at him. She knew him well. Under ordinary circumstances he would be looking at Julian, noticing his age and how handsome he was, growing slightly jealous. But he wasn't this time. "You set him up to this, didn't you?" she realized.

"Please," he begged, "do not be angry with me. I cannot be here to see to your well-being for many weeks. I only wish to make certain this time that you eat properly. I am afraid is shall return and you will have disappeared from lack of eating," he tried to joke. "Will you promise me this at least? Allow the doctor to help you with proper nutrition."

"I promise," she said as she nodded. "Some people eat when they're sad, but I don't. When I'm sad, I just can't. But I'll try to make sure I get in proper meals, this time, I really do promise. I don't care if I have to make fruit smoothies with interesting ingredients."

"Your health is of primary importance to me, Jamie Lee. Always remember that."

She nodded at him, "And you? Will you be careful, too?"

He knew he could promise to be careful. "Yes, I promise to be careful." But he hoped she did not ask him to promise to return in one piece. He knew that there was a slim possibility he might not. Especially if a certain agent got her hands on him.

##

They spent two days at the Goram Valley Spa on Bajor. When you ventured outside, there was nothing but expansive hills and mountains as far as the eye could see.

The couple received various spa sessions over the course of the two days. Sea salt scrubs, mud masks, Betazoid facials and the relaxing full body massages. After they were done, they left the spa feeling as if every bone in their body was turned to jelly.

They spent their last two days on board his ship in his quarters with a very long good-bye session.

They sat in his quarters that last day and she was all dressed and ready to go. The mood was positive, but still a little tense. Before she could leave, he gave her a new set of encryption codes to send him messages. "I want to hear from you at least two times a week," he declared as he pointed authoritatively at her.

She playfully bit his finger as she laughed. She knew it was an instant mistake as she saw his ears flushing green. The expression on his face turned intense again and she found herself being dragged onto his lap as a new fit of kissing began. After two seconds, she didn't want to stop, so they didn't.

His ship was delayed by an hour.

##

Jamie Lee woke up the next day in her old bed in her apartment back on Deep Space 9. It only took a couple of seconds to remember that Rekar was gone again.

She was surprised to realize that this time, things felt different. She lifted her hand and looked at the simple ring she had picked out at his request. It was white gold with a marquise solitaire. She smiled at the memory of that day.

He had attempted to buy her what she saw as a 5 carat monstrosity. "My hand is too small for a diamond that size!" she insisted and talked him down to a 2 carat one. Since he had insisted she get what she loved, the band itself held tiny diamonds on both sides down to the middle of the ring. When he didn't balk at the price, she looked at him strangely and only then began to wonder how much Rekar was truly worth monetarily.

She pulled herself out of the memory and sat up to get ready for her day. She was going to contact that Bajoran firm she had worked for previously and see if she could set up a couple of editing contracts, but first she knew she had to force in some kind of breakfast since a promise was a promise.

After settling on a strawberry smoothie with a hint of banana flavoring and finely shredded oatmeal, Jamie managed to get the whole thing into her and felt mighty proud afterward. It actually hadn't tasted bad at all and she decided that was going to be her breakfast every morning, some kind of smoothie with some kind of grain component.

She spent the rest of the day on soft foods like yoghurt and noodles. By dinnertime, she was in the mood for a plate of rice and beans. She was very surprised her appetite was doing so well.

The next day she took a jaunt down to Bajor for the entire day to meet at the firm to solidify some new contracts for the month. Jake didn't say anything, but he was really glad she seemed to be doing so well compared to the last time Rekar had left her behind.

##

Rekar had sent his retirement papers in ahead of himself to the military. He knew that was going to be the easy part. They would, without a doubt, accept his retirement with no problems, but it would take nearly a month to process. It was the other half of his retirement plans he had yet to set in motion that was a concern.

On his way back to Romulus, he diverted to a pick-up point as requested by his superiors to remove some stranded colonists from a joint Federation-Klingon colony. Everything apparently had gone wrong for the colonists since they'd set foot on the world.

When the truth was uncovered, it was an amazing testament to the strange laws of the universe and poetic justice. It all began because some Ferengis had been the original surveyors of the world and had highly boasted the virtues of the 'wonderful' place. They had then sold their fake survey to someone else who sold it to someone else. The colonists had no idea that it was a fourth party sale and had gone to settle there less than three months before. It had been worse than that, however, when the colonists arrived and realized there was not one source of fresh water on the entire M class stable asteroid as had been represented in the reports.

The colonists would return later, they said, after some kind of crew was able to go there and put a couple of bio-domes on its surface with soil to grow crops and resources to produce reclaimable drinking water. Though things had not turned out well for their current colony, while they were there they had decided to do their own survey. What did they discover? Large dilithium deposits! The colonists were technically rich. In a twist of irony, had the Ferengis actually really done the survey, they would have been the ones that turned out rich.

It was unpleasant to him to have Klingons on his ship, but it was only for a week after all and he dealt with it. Once he dropped the colonists to their destination, he was able to turn his ship around and head straight back to Romulus.

It had been two weeks since he'd left her side and the ache whenever he thought of her had not lessened. Sometimes he awoke in the middle of the night and he could feel that shadow in the back of his mind that he knew was 'her'. Whatever that connection was they had made the night of his overindulgence in chocolate had not been broken. Forbidden though it was, he found it to be the only thing keeping him sane. Sometimes he could feel a flash of annoyance or happiness and he knew it was her reacting to something happening during her day. It caused an overwhelming tide of love to crest in his heart and he held on tight to his emotions to make certain he showed nothing to those around him. He wondered if she could feel echoes off of his emotions, as well.

He was two days away from Romulus and saw a notation light up on the arm of his chair on the bridge. He knew that meant she had sent him a message.

##

Rekar settled into his quarters much later. He had been working double and triple shifts on the bridge. Not only did he not want to seem weak to his people since they knew he had married a human, but also now he had decided to retire and he didn't want anything in his service record to seem lackadaisical during his final days in the military. Also, he admitted to himself, he had difficulty sleeping without his wife lying beside him.

Her lovely face flashed up onscreen and he activated the now decoded message.

"Hello, Rekar," she said with that halfway sad grin. "I know it's only been two weeks by now, but I miss you so much." She sighed deeply and smiled. "I'm going into Julian tomorrow for my exam. Now don't get all upset! I've been trying to put my contracts together and you'll be glad to know that I've already started working again. You'll also be glad to know that my appetite is just fine. I have this theory that us being married just makes the separation feel different this time? I'm less panicked about it? I don't know. But I'm going in for that exam now, okay? I'm doing great, though, because I've been eating everything in sight! I mean it has only been two weeks, but I just wanted you to know that even though I'm upset we're apart, I have not been going without food like the last time. I guess this time I'm eating with my misery," she laughed.

She grew serious then and continued, "I just feel like I have to tell you, you don't have to retire from the military for me, Rekar. I guess if it's what you really want to do, I don't mind. I just hate the feeling that maybe I came along and put a wrench in the workings of your life. Now that you're not standing in front of me and I can think straight I can't help but ask myself, did I change the course of things for you significantly? Would you have done this if I wasn't in your life?" She shrugged. "Enough of the fatalism. I'm going to get dinner now. Jake's making us chicken teriyaki and the smell of the ginger he's using in the recipe has me really hungry! I love you!" she said and then the message ended.

Rekar couldn't help but smile at the thought of his Jamie Lee able to eat even though he was gone. He hoped she was not telling him a falsehood so he wouldn't worry, but he knew her well. She was not capable of lying so easily. And that strange connection they now shared told him she was being entirely truthful.


	24. Food Is Good

_A/N - Here's the first chapter of your 'two chapter Friday'! I'll put the next one up some time this evening._

* * *

It most certainly was no falsehood that Jamie Lee had discovered all sorts of food.

Admittedly, that first week had been difficult. She had to at first spend each morning forcing down a new fruit combo smoothie fortified with some kind of yoghurt and some kind of grain. Her lunches involved some kind of small serving of noodle product with vegetables and her dinner involved some kind of starch with protein and vegetable, one small serving each.

By week two, however, she realized that maybe because she was running around a lot doing research for her work, she needed to eat a little bit more. There were always at least two trips a week down to Bajor. One trip, the week before, took her three days away from Deep Space 9 to a famed access limited library orbiting a mining colony. Then there was that one unexpected jaunt through the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. Her appetite improved substantially and she found herself hopping between every restaurant on the promenade or going to someplace new down on Bajor for lunch or dinner every day. Each day brought a new type of cuisine and she found herself enjoying everything a little too much.

She also noticed at night that when she would go to bed, whether it was in her quarters onboard the station, or some guest hotel or Bed and Breakfast down on Bajor, she would sleep hard the moment her head hit the pillow. That had never happened in her life. She remembered Jacinda claiming that when she broke up with that last jerk in her life how she had gone through what she called 'grief sleep'. Her sister swore she would go to bed and be asleep in less than seven seconds. Neither one of the girls had ever slept well, but Jacinda said this phenomenon had really happened for about three months after she broke up with her ex.

Jamie Lee began to surmise, maybe because she was pretty upset on the inside that Rekar was gone it made her fall asleep faster? She tried her best to smile when others were around, but she did miss him intensely.

The only two food places she literally couldn't stomach while walking the Promenade was the Klingon cuisine and the little sushi bar. Walking by them both, the smells would make her almost gag. She was very confused because you couldn't even really smell sushi, could you? And she also used to LOVE it. Though she had never been a huge eater of Klingon food before, she had never had the reaction of wanting to hurl just from the smell of it. She avoided walking near both places, literally crossing over to the other side of the Promenade when she came near them.

Jake came home from Bajor the next morning from one of his interviews. This time it had been with a member of the Bajoran cabinet. "I'm beat!" he declared, obviously annoyed. "The runabout broke down on the way from Bajor, can you believe that?"

"Oh wow! I thought you got stuck out on a hot date down on the planet or something and decided not to come home until now."

He shook his head. "I wish! So we drifted for like three whole hours until someone could come and fix what went wrong. The repairs took another two hours. By the time they were done, we had drifted so far, it took another three hours to get back here. We couldn't use the warp drive and they weren't able to tow us back and-" he stopped mid explanation and just shook his head. "It was just a pain in the neck." And then he noticed, "What the heck are you eating _now_?" he asked, at least amused by that. Her new adventures into food had not gone unnoticed by him.

"Cheese grits and eggs," she said as she ate it as if she were starving.

"You ate two servings of chicken Teriyaki before I left last night," he said on a suppressed grin.

"Three. I had an extra after you left. Well four, I ate the last one around midnight. I figured, what was the use of leaving just one? So sorry, there's none left."

He couldn't help but to laugh. "I can't believe how much you're eating, Jamie Lee!" he exclaimed, happy. He had been dreading what would happen after Rekar left, but he exhaled on a sigh of relief.

"Me either. Do you know, yesterday, I had like two lunches?"

He frowned. "You what?" Now that was not his cousin at all.

"Yeah! I ate Pad Thai with vegetables and then an hour later I just had to have hot biryani. I've got my mom's recipe in the replicator and I came back to our quarters and went to town on it. It was so spicy, I think I burnt the roof of my mouth. And then I had heartburn later, uh!"

"You had biryani for lunch yesterday and didn't give _me_ any?" he asked, hung up on that one fact.

She looked sheepish. "But I ate it all."

He knew his aunt's recipe could feed three people. "You ate _the whole thing_?"

She nodded with huge shameful eyes. "The whole thing."

"And you didn't get sick?" he asked.

"Just the heartburn, but that's because I made it extra hot."

He was a little worried by then. "Did you go to Dr. Bashir yet?"

"I have an appointment an hour before dinner today."

He also couldn't help but notice that Jamie's life had become before-breakfast, after-lunch (second lunch?!), before-dinner. Before, it had been 'before that deadline' or 'after I'm done with that article'. "How's work?"

"Oh, great! I'm halfway through my second assignment. I'm glad I decided to take it easy and only go for two contracts at a time. All this legwork is making me tired!"

He had a hunch and held in his laugher. "What are you having for lunch today?"

"Hot wings with ranch."

He did laugh then.

"What?"

"I had a feeling you already had your lunch planned out for today, that's all. I'm need to go and get some sleep now. I wound up sitting next to this huge guy on the shuttle and every time he fell asleep he'd snore right into my ear and wake me up."

##

Jamie Lee most certainly did have her hot wings and ranch for lunch. Then she had a mini-sundae with hot caramel and nuts an hour before her appointment with Dr. Bashir. "This is ridiculous," she said as she ate it.

She showed up to the infirmary on time and smiled as she walked in. "I'm here!" she called out since the place looked empty.

Julian walked out with a smile on his face. "You're looking happy, Jamie Lee!" he exclaimed.

"I just ate a sundae, I should be happy," she said as she hopped up onto the exam table.

He shook his head and laughed as he began to scan her. "And Rekar was worried you wouldn't take in adequate nutrition this time!"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I'm eating like everything in sight, it's ridiculous. I mean yesterday there was actually two whole lunches that went into me and one of them was enough to feed three people."

Julian smiled widely. "That's because you're carrying a baby that's making you eat everything in sight. Human women usually do have voracious appetites when carrying Vulcanoid children." He said it like it was nothing.

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"You didn't know?" He smiled down at her and said, "Well according to these scans you conceived this baby about a month ago. Congratulations! I see you had hybrid friendly tech installed in you back on Earth? I thought that meant-" Her shock was beginning to register to him and he stopped talking.

She was shaking her head in disbelief. "It wasn't supposed to work this fast, though! They said it almost _never_ works until it's been in there at least three whole months! I knew Rekar would be gone and- I thought it would happen _after _he got back!"

"'Almost never' does not mean 'never'," he halfway chastised, but he still couldn't get the grin off of his face. "Well it seems the time released tech you had installed gave you the right amount of vitamins your body would need to prepare to conceive this baby. And the nanoprobes they released into you made your egg susceptible to fertilization by your husband. Now if you'd just lie back, I have to put in to make a couple of adjustments to his genetic code."

She lay back, in semi-shock. "That's why I've been eating everything?"

"He needed the calories," said Julian as he stood there, very pleased with being able to do genetic work on her embryo. He was so taken with his thoughts, he gave her a history lesson. "Back in the old days, we didn't have tech that made it this easy. Take, for instance, Ambassdor Spock's mother. Lady Amanda had to have her egg taken out of her, the genetic material was then scooped out, manipulated and then the Ambassador Sarek's sperm was able to meet egg. Even after that, they had to, in effect, design the future Mr. Spock piece by piece before putting him back into his mother so he could finish growing."

She lay there very interested and at least temporarily distracted by what he was saying. "For real?"

"Yes, for real," he said using her expression, with a huge grin. "A quarter of a century after that, there were huge leaps and bounds in reproductive medicine for interspecies relationships. They started giving the mother prescriptions, whoever she was, that would make it easier for her body to support the pregnancy of whatever race she was attempting to conceive with. The amount of pills was ghastly, but necessary. We still do that, but now we have time-released tech so the mother doesn't have to think of taking prescriptions every day. And they used to have to almost constantly manipulate the child, in-utero. The mother was at her geneticist's office almost every single _day_ being monitored. Now, we have the nanoprobes making certain the egg can accept the father's sperm, making certain the umbilical cord develops properly, that the mother isn't contaminated by the child's copper or iron based blood and vice versa.

"Nowadays, you show up to your doctor once a week, in this case 'me'," he said on a grin, "and that doctor checks the child and makes whatever adjustments are necessary and you go on your merry way. And to make it better, before you leave today, I'll install a tiny monitor inside you that will keep constant track of the baby for any developing abnormalities. That monitor will alert me immediately. So don't be surprised if I show up at your quarters at 3 a.m."

Her head was starting to swim. She lay there, thinking, as Julian continued putting in for the adjustments that needed to be made.

After ten minutes time he looked down at his patient's face. "You truly are in shock," he realized.

She was actually on the verge of tears but she didn't know exactly why. Sure it was earlier than she had originally planned, but not by much. "I just had no idea. It's a boy you said? You called it 'he'. It's a boy?" she wanted to confirm.

"It's a boy. And he looks good and strong. Your son is fine. Do you have any questions?" he asked, his bedside manner changing drastically.

Jamie Lee found herself still about to cry. "Is that why I'm falling asleep so fast?"

"Your body is working harder than anything you can believe, even while you're at rest. It's going to take the sleep it needs whether you want it to or not. Due to the nature of this hybrid pregnancy, I'm going to ask you to please avoid several things."

"Okay," she said as she lay there and listened.

"That's done for now," he said as he set his instruments aside and let her out of the confinement of the surgical biobed. "No strenuous activities. Eat often. In fact, you need to keep a log of your caloric intake. This child will require you to eat a minimum of 3,000 calories a day. You will also notice that you may not gain weight easily. Though modern technology has made this basically easy, he is still very foreign to your body and has needs that you will hardly be able to keep up with. This extended tri-mester, since you will be pregnant a little bit longer than you would be for a full human baby, you'll need to eat 3,000. The next, you'll need to consume four. And for the last you're going to have to eat a lot of small meals all day long that amount to 5,000 calories by the end of the day. However long you can keep him in you after that 40 weeks is just plain good. The more you can eat, the longer he'll stay in. The irony is that after you deliver this child, you may be smaller than you were when you conceived him."

Her eyes widened. "This is some serious stuff."

"I'm going to ask you to nap twice a day, an hour in the late morning and two hours in the late afternoon."

"Won't I have trouble sleeping at night if I do that?"

"Trust me, you will not," he said as he helped her off of the bio-bed. "And do yourself a favor," he chastised. "The next time you and Rekar decide to get pregnant, please put on a bit of weight first so you don't wind up so famished at the end of the pregnancy. Before you even realized he was there, this child was eating into your stores of fat and nutrients to form itself."

"What about exercise?"

"Walk often," he said. "Prenatal yoga, Vulcan Sof'el'itju movements, the slow kind," he cautioned, "Bajoran meditative poses, whatever lasts under 25 minutes, keeps stress down and eats a minimum of your much-needed calories. Nothing strenuous. I've refilled your time released vitamins since you were almost out completely. It's a good thing you came in when you did."

She was still in a daze. "Okay."

"Go home. Put your feet up. And please avoid chocolate and anything else harmful to the human or Vulcan pregnancy. I'm assuming it would hold the same template as a Romulan one all right? I'm sending a file to your PADD that will contain all of this information. I suggest you read it as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Julian," she said as she walked out of the infirmary.

She didn't know how to feel. She had just been told she had to eat a lot and sleep often. She was going to have to keep a log of everything she ate and how much of it to make sure she was getting enough food.

She walked into her quarters and saw Jake there already putting dinner together. She knew Julian was under doctor-patient confidentiality and would tell no one, so she looked over at her cousin's smiling face and burst into tears.

"What's the matter!" an alarmed Jake said as he rushed over. "Did Julian have bad news or something?"

"I'm pregnant for real! Like _for real_ for real!"

Jake's face burst into a smile. "I knew you were pregnant!" he said.

"What?"

"It was Kassidy all over again with Lisa. Except she was throwing up all the time in the beginning! She didn't start that crazy eating until six months in."

"You knew?"

"I suspected," he said.

She smacked Jake's arm. "You could have warned me!"

Even though he had just been smacked, he was still happy. "This is great! When are you going to tell Rekar?"

"Good question," she said. But first, her mind was diverted by the smell of food. "What did you make?"


	25. We'll See

_A/N - Here is part 2 of your 'Two chapter Friday' submission!_

* * *

Rekar sat in his large ancestral home. It was strange to him that, though married, he found himself alone in that home once again. He tried his best to keep his mind off of thoughts of Jamie Lee, but he couldn't help but wish his wife were at home with him.

His day had at least begun well. He had just received his papers of Honorable Discharge from the military. According to the paperwork, his retirement would be official in two weeks time. But they were not who he was worried about. He had submitted his Formal Letter of Resignation to the Tal'Shiar as soon as he had received his military discharge papers. He was hoping they would allow him to retire on the grounds that he had served long enough but truthfully he knew it was something along the lines of wishful thinking. He had a feeling he was going to have to call in a favor for this one, but to whom?

His home communication system alerted him that a subspace communiqué was coming in. He jumped eagerly knowing that it could only be his Jamie Lee.

He made his way down the hall, up the long staircase and around a corner. He was in his communications room soon enough thanks to being in such excellent shape. The crazy workouts had begun once again in earnest since this latest separation.

As soon as he put the call through the descrambler, the face of his beautiful wife filled the screen. She was wearing a lovely peach sweater. She also, thankfully, didn't look thinner than the last time he had seen her two weeks before.

"My wife," he said, very pleased to see her, "your face is a wonderful sight. Your day is well?" But he could see the look on her face, see her excitement.

"How secure is this line?" was her first question.

"Very secure."

"There's something I have to tell you."

He frowned. "Tell me."

"I went to see Julian and he said I have to eat a lot more food."

"But you expressed in your last communiqué that you were, in fact, eating more than usual."

"My caloric requirements have gone up substantially," she said with a silly grin on her face.

There was something here he was not getting. "Jamie Lee?"

"Rekar," she said with tears in her eyes as she stood. She lifted the very bottom of her sweater and pointed to a precise spot on her lower abdomen. It was still very flat and smooth at the moment. "Your son is right here. And he's eating positively _everything_ I put into me!"

His eyes grew wider and he was swamped with happiness coupled with fear. "Jamie! Please, be very careful about who you tell!" he begged.

She sat down, sober now as she nodded. "I know. Julian won't tell anyone and Jake said he'll keep it to himself. But I keep eating and everyone is bound to notice, Rekar."

He actually felt dizzy with happiness. "You're carrying my son," he whispered.

She found herself blushing and looking away at the expression on his face. "Any news so far?"

He remembered, "In two weeks, I am officially retired from the military! I only just handed in my papers to the Tal'Shiar, as is the proper protocol. Now I must see what happens after that."

"I love you," she said to him as she wished he were standing right next to her.

"You do as the doctor says and you eat and I'm certain he gave you several other guidelines. Follow them all, please," he begged. "I love you."

As they disconnected, a feeling of pressure was now lodged deep in his being. Things had just gotten even more dangerous. If the Tal'Shiar found out about this pregnancy, they might try to do something desperate just to keep him.

##

He went to Tal'Shiar headquarters the next day since he had been summoned there about his retirement. The last person he ever wanted to see sat behind the desk of his superior and he wondered how she, of all people, wound up here!

Sela's almost platinum hair was a shock to the sight of others in the Romulan world. She had grown up hating it, but in an almost perverse act of defiance she willfully decided not to color it. As much as she despised her human heritage, it made no sense why she would do something like continue to be blonde as if it were some kind of badge of honor. No one understood what went through her head, at times.

Seeing her there, Rekar knew then that the Tal'Shiar most certainly wanted to keep him. That could be the only explanation as to why she was there sitting in the place his superior usually sat. And where was his superior, that day, anyway? Knowing Sela, she had come in and put him out, took his desk for the day. Or for however long she planned on staying…

She noticed him standing there, saying not a word. She found herself grinning almost sardonically. "It's good to see your little human wife hasn't made you lose your instincts."

He nearly squinted at her. Something told him fake-pandering to her wishes was not going to work. "And exactly what is the reason you've been dragged here?"

She smiled halfway. "You know what we want."

He only looked at her with a closed expression and forced himself not to be smug. This was the wrong person to mess with. Everyone knew that Sela was just a little bit crazy. He found it funny that she had gone through her own disgrace and recovered, just as he had. Except she had not left the Tal'Shiar afterward. She had stayed, fought, gotten back on top and now, here she was to taunt him, to probe and, he suspected, to search. But for what? He found himself intensely curious. "And that would be?"

"There were a series of experiments done on you years ago. We wished to conduct them again before you depart."

He swallowed back dread. "I am a citizen of this Empire. And more than that, I retain certain rights due to all of my years of service. I invoke those rights and I do not submit to any further testing."

"Oh come now!" she tried to be warm, but her iciness was that much more pronounced. "It's for the good of the Empire, so already know you still owe these things to us."

"And you have a warrant?"

She smirked. "When has the Tal'Shiar bothered with such things?"

"With their own people? All of the time."

She leaned forward and the look in her eyes was deadly. "You've retired."

"My retirement has not yet been granted. It cannot be granted until I am fully discharged from the military and that is not official until thirteen days from now. Then and only then can my resignation from the Tal'Shiar be granted or denied."

She squinted. Of course he would know the regulations back and forth. "Fine for now. But in two weeks time, if your retirement is granted, unless you present to us your Blade of Honor, we still own you. And if you are no longer with us, you are against us and you will be our prisoner."

He hid the look that almost appeared on his face. They were asking for his Blade of Honor? Weren't _they _the ones who had it? But he said nothing. Something was wrong here. "When it is presented," he said, "I shall be my own person once again."

"If it can be found," she sneered. "Did you think after all of this time we would let a telepath go that easily? The Blade of your father's house being lost may have been unintentional. That loss, however, has turned into a convenience for us. We know you have no idea where it is so don't try and pretend that you do."

He was reeling on the inside. Who had lost his Blade? Years of training forced him not to panic. He would not come apart in front of this viper!

"Further," said Sela as she casually went through a file in front of her, "it would be a shame to have to go and pick up your pretty Terran wife. She looks so tiny and delicate, weak. She must be crying as we speak, missing you so," she cooed mockingly.

Rekar felt anger and blood swimming in his vision. "She has nothing to do with this."

"She married you, didn't she? Was she not aware she instantly became our citizen at that point? If you are a prisoner, so is she and so is the child she is carrying."

And true panic was setting in for him then. But he betrayed nothing in his expression. He suspected Sela was fishing for information. "You presume much about my wife. And one thing you should know, she is more than capable of taking care of herself."

"We'll see, now, won't we?" taunted Sela.


	26. Once Upon A Time

_A/N - Sorry it took a minute to update this. Life is hectic now since it's just before the start of my new season for my 'area of operation' so I'm juggling 50 things at once! I wanted to make sure I updated this TODAY and didn't want to keep you all hanging._

_Crazy things are about to happen and this story is about to (briefly) stray in to the area of adventure, but no worries! It still looks as if this will be 30 to 32 chapters, total. Things will get revealed toward the end and I'm HOPING you all like where this winds up._

* * *

Rekar went home, his insides in a state of panic. He hid it very well and no one looking at him would ever know how he truly felt, but it was there in his gut, burning, churning, demanding he protect his wife.

He knew he couldn't risk communications of any kind with her. He suspected his superiors did not know for a _fact_ she was carrying his child, but putting out that likelihood to him just to see his reaction was a common tactic used by intelligence agencies everywhere, but Tal'Shiar seemed to excel at such things. There was also that chance that they truly did know.

By the time he was striding through his front door trying to give off the appearance of casualness, as if his pregnant wife had not just been threatened by a very vindictive, dangerous and powerful woman, he realized something. There were two things he thought he could do, but even those options that might save things were in the realm of grasping at straws. But he had to try. They were his wife's only hope. It wasn't about him personally anymore, it was about her and his unborn son.

##

Jamie Lee felt this persistent streak of anxiety all day but she didn't understand why. She even went to Julian to have him check up on the baby, but the doctor insisted the child was fine and developing normally. She was relieved at first and relaxed temporarily, but that feeling of impending doom was there, in the back of her mind, and it wouldn't let up.

The next day when she got up, it was still there, following her around. She kept telling herself maybe she was just being paranoid. But when she tried to get a message through to Rekar, her communiqué never made it to its destination. When she checked later, it seemed her message had not only been stopped, it had also been repelled. Fear really did assault her, then. It was as if Rekar didn't want to get word from her! She tried her best not to jump to conclusions, kept telling herself there must be some perfectly good reason why he couldn't receive her message.

Jake noticed her discomfort and tried to distract her by taking her out to dinner that night. For the first time in weeks, she didn't eat well at all. In fact, she felt very nauseated. "I think this baby is finally starting to make my stomach turn," she admitted.

"Let's go back and get you some warm ginger ale and crackers," he suggested.

They went back home and Jamie Lee tried to eat them, but both items only made her very sick. Before she could stop him, Jake was the one on the intercom to Julian. "Jamie Lee is sick! We're in our quarters."

"On my way," he snapped.

"What did you call the doctor for?" she asked as she shook her head. "Human women have been throwing up while pregnant for like forever!"

"You need every calorie your body can get. You barely ate dinner then you couldn't keep down a light snack. That's not good!"

"Ah, Jake, I'll be fine," she wailed as she sat down on the couch.

He was pushing a pillow behind her as she shook her head. "Put your feet up!" the commanded. The chimer sounded then and Jake shouted, "Come in!"

Julian entered and didn't even say a word to either of them at first, he just started scanning. "What happened?" he asked after a full two minutes. He was looking at her sternly as if she had done something wrong.

"She barely ate any dinner and then she couldn't keep anything down after that!" Jake answered for her.

"Why didn't you eat dinner?" he asked. "And why are your stress levels through the roof?"

She felt like she was between a rock and a hard place. "I have this feeling," she whispered. "Is it safe to talk in this room?"

The both of them just looked at her as if she were crazy. "How long have you been having these feelings of paranoia?" asked Julian as he started scanning her again, this time in the vicinity of her head.

"Since yesterday and-"

"When have you had telepathic contact?" he asked, confused, as he looked at the readings he had gotten off of her. "I never scanned your mind before, but I should have. What is going on?"

She looked around the room, even more paranoid! "I don't want to talk about that here!"

He sat down on the couch and looked her in the eye. "Jamie, it would go a whole lot better for you if you just come out and say what it is."

"The room-" she gestured around her and didn't finish her thought.

Julian sighed tiredly. "Computer, erect a level 5 containment field around the three occupants of this room. Block all frequencies and any incoming or outgoing listening devices."

The computer clicked and whirred and the next thing Jamie knew, there was what looked to be a transparent field surrounding the confined area the three of them were occupying. She breathed a little easier. If this didn't work, no one could say she hadn't tried. "My husband's a telepath and he's trying to retire from the Tal'Shiar. I've had this horrible feeling of dread since yesterday and it started within a day of telling him we're having a baby and I can't shake it and I think it's not even me, it's from him."

"I'm certain the Tal'Shiar know about his abilities!" Julian said, confused.

"Yes, but he was not supposed to use them- well with me. And he did and now I'm getting things from him and he's probably getting things from me."

"Then contact him and tell him for the sake of his pregnant wife he needs to bloody well calm down!"

"I tried to call him and my communication was interfered with at the place of destination, like he's keeping me from getting anything to him."

Julian sighed tiredly. "Jamie Lee, until you know what's going on, I want you in bed. You're under a lot of stress and your body needs every calorie it gets."

"And I agree totally!" Jake interjected.

Jamie Lee gave her cousin a 'shut-up' look. And his feelings looked so hurt, she instantly felt horrible for giving him that look. Pregnancy hormones were on high and she instantly found herself starting to cry. "I'm sorry, Jake! I know you're just trying to look out for me."

He shook his head. "You're under a lot of pressure now and it's not good." He looked at Julian. "Can't you give her something to calm her down?"

"I can't give her a thing that won't harm the baby."

"I'll be fine," she said. "I'm going to concentrate on managing the stress."

"I can give you an anti-emetic if nausea and vomiting continue, but it won't be a strong one or a high dose since this child is not human, do you understand?"

"Fully," she nodded her head.

"Just for now, remain in a seated or reclined position for the rest of today or at least until you get your appetite back. I can't have you using calories you can't spare."

"Yes, Julian."

He was very concerned as he looked at her. The last thing he wanted was her to lose this child if she couldn't eat enough.

##

Jamie Lee finally fell asleep late that night. She hadn't been able to eat anything else, but her stomach felt much better. She dreamed.

_Warm winds blew and she found herself struggling to walk through them. It was a forest she had never been in. Strange and beautiful trees with foliage she had never seen surrounded her. She found herself watching them with awe, distracted. Instead of wondering how she found herself there, she instead was amazed at how at home she felt though she had never seen the place before._

_ "Jamie Lee," she heard a whisper behind her. She turned quickly. The outline of Rekar stood there, but it was not fully 'him'. It was almost just what she perceived as the reflection of him._

_ "What is it?" she asked, eyes wide._

_ "I've been trying to reach you but I've never done this before. Am I talking to myself?" he seemed to be asking no one in particular._

_ She realized then that this was a dream, but not a regular one. That feeling inside, that he was always there, it was streaming at her on a persistent flow, pushing in on her! She couldn't handle the sensation and she felt the dream trying to slip away. "What is it? I'm about to wake up! Quickly! Quickly!" she said urgently._

_ "Run!" he shouted, panic in his eyes, convinced that he had finally reached his wife. "Get off of Deep Space-"_

She sat bolt upright, her heart hammering in her chest, panic and urgency in her being. She stood straight up out of bed and grabbed a bag from her closet, began to pack. There was no question in her mind that he meant what he said. She had to run.

##

Garak sat up quickly. Jamie Lee walked into his shop that morning an hour before he opened. "Can I talk to you?" she asked on half a whisper.

He knew that look. And the hunter in him awakened. Still, he tried to play it off as if he didn't notice. "Perhaps I can interest you in a new dress today?"

She couldn't even pretend. Silent tears were in her eyes. "Where can I go?" she whispered.

He looked at her with a strange expression on his face. He dropped the act. "They're coming for you?"

"He's trying to leave. It was supposed to be something he was doing for us and-" she swallowed back the rest of the explanation. It wasn't necessary. "Yes, now they're coming for me," she whispered she confirmed.

He saw that she seemed to be scared, but he knew she was a strong woman. She was stronger, he suspected, than even she knew. "You'll make it," he predicted.

"What will they do?" she asked honestly. "Don't spare me. Tell me the truth. I need to know, what will they do to him? To me?"

"They will hold him until they get to you. And then they will torture you until he gives them whatever it is they want, in this case, his continued service."

She nodded. She had expected that. She was surprised she was handling it so well. She knew she would fall apart later. "They have to catch me first. And they can't have us," she said as she turned, about to leave.

"'Us'?" he asked, stopping her from leaving. There was an openly dangerous expression on his face. "If you mean what I think you mean, that is a bargaining chip. No Romulan is going to hurt a Romulan child, even in-utero."

She huffed half a sigh of relief, half expression of scorn. "I still have to get away since I suppose there are other ways to hurt me without hurting the baby."

He nodded, intrigued that she would know something like that. "You suppose right. And once you have the child, all bets are off."

She turned to leave again.

"Jamie Lee," he called after her.

She turned and looked at him.

"I will hold them off as long as I can."

She frowned.

"They will come here first," he said, "since this is where you live. I'll wait for them in your quarters. I'll snap their necks since they won't see that coming. That should buy you enough time."

She was afraid for those men, even though they were the ones coming for her. "Why would you help me?"

"Your uncle was an honorable man. I suppose I could say that and really mean it. But I would be lying to you."

She looked at him, confused.

"Come here, my dear," he said. "Indulge an old man for a couple of minutes before you run along and finish packing. I want to tell you a story."

She walked closer to him. "Garak?"

He smiled down into her face and there was sadness behind his smile. "Once upon a time," he whispered, "there was a beautiful young girl. She was a lot like you, full of goodness. And she met a man. This man was no good for her. He was an agent for a large portion of his life, had done things that agents do. He was not only no good for her, he was simply not good enough for her. But this girl wouldn't hear it, believed she loved this man, even though he was the enemy of her father. This girl—she died. That man, with all he was capable of, when it was important he had no idea she needed him and he was nowhere near. He couldn't save her. He went on living, but he never forgot her. Or her goodness."

She felt tears in her eyes then and she knew he was that man. She found herself reaching out with one hand and touched the older Cardassian's face gently.

He closed his eyes and for a split second he could feel that feeling again. His eyes opened and now they were hard. "Go, Jamie Lee. Be careful. I'll keep the first wave off of your back. That, I can promise. But once that happens, they'll know you're not here anymore and they won't return to Deep Space 9 again. Go and be certain you cover your tracks."

She turned and left the shop. Garak was weak with the memory of Ziyal for a couple of seconds and then he forced himself to push forward, pretending nothing untoward had ever happened… or was about to.


	27. Departure

_A/N - It's a small chapter, but it's a necessary one to set up for the next couple of chapters._

* * *

Jake had stumbled in on Jamie Lee hauling a bag out of her room after she was done packing. He asked her, very panicked, what was going on, so she told him. "You are NOT going alone!" he declared.

She looked at her cousin and shook her head. "What, so you're going, too?"

"What if this dream wasn't even really what you think it is?"

"So you don't think I should go at all?" She wasn't asking for his opinion, she was just trying to get his state of mind.

He didn't know what to believe, but he knew she was determined to leave and he had to try and stall her until she saw reason. "Why don't we ask Julian to come and look at you again? Or better yet we can go and see him and-"

"I might not have time for that!"

"Just, please!" he begged. "Just do it for me, okay?" He pointed at her stomach with half a grin, "And do it for the little potato head."

She laughed at the nickname and gave in. "Fine. But let's go right now. I'm on a tight schedule."

##

"Are you out of your _mind_?" raged Julian Bashir.

"I don't care what either one of you say," said Jamie Lee. Her tone was cooler than either of them had expected as she faced them both down. "He goes in to retire, he's a telepath, I can't get a message through to him and then I get a dream telling me to run? This can't be a coincidence."

Julian was at a loss for words. Maybe if he got evidence that nothing of the sort had happened and there was no abnormal brain activity besides what he had already registered, she would listen to them. So he took up his scanner and began to scan her mind.

Jake was already in the middle of something of a rant. "Jamie Lee, this isn't good! Where are you going to go, what are you going to do and how do you even _know_ your dream wasn't just a _dream_? I've had dreams that I swore were real," he said, "but they weren't." He dreamt of his father often enough to understand that feeling. But even still, he always wondered if his dad truly was contacting him on a regular basis in his dreams. On the inside, he was starting to waver even though he didn't show it.

"So you just brought me here, trying to talk me out of going?" Jamie charged. "What since Julian's a genius it's supposed to make a difference in my decision? I'm supposed to automatically listen to him or something?" she continued, one hand planted on her hip.

"This is strange," said Julian as he frowned. "The area of your brain that experiences REM sleep has a temporary pathway, kind of like a line or an inserted highway that's been forged between it and the area of your brain that receives telepathic communication. It looks as if you did receive a message of some kind."

"_Thank you_!" Jamie Lee said emphatically to Julian. "See, the man's a genius! Listen to him!"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Oh brother."

"Besides, I didn't even tell Garak how I knew and he agreed that they will most likely come here to try and pick me up."

Julian sighed tiredly as he just stood there and stared at her for a couple of seconds. "You're right, Jake, she's not going alone." He shook his head. "I'm coming with you, Jamie."

Jamie Lee's eyes grew wide and she softened considerably. "Julian, no. I can't ask you to. That isn't right."

He tried to smile casually. "The little guy needs an attending physician, remember?" he asked as he scanned the region of her belly.

Jake smiled. "So you'll come and keep an eye on our little potato head."

Julian looked horrified. "Is that his name?"

Jamie shook her head. "Jake's been calling him 'the little potato head' ever since he heard about him."

"That's just awful," Julian said as he shook his head. He began to grin. "What about 'spud'?"

"Oh God, no!" Jamie Lee laughed. "No more potato names! Let's just get this show on the road now and get out of here."

Julian said, "Jamie, get yourself down to the shuttle bay. By the time you get down there I will have cleared a runabout for us. Call the infirmary and I'll tell you which one. Take your bags, drop them off in the runabout and then let everyone see you walking the promenade for at least ten minutes. After that, go back to the runabout and wait there. I'm going to pack up and get things in order here and then I'll join you. We leave within three hours."

"I'm coming, too," said Jake. "If I stay here, who's to say the Tal'Shiar won't grab me to use to get to her."

"That's true. It's safer if you come with us," Julian agreed.

Jamie Lee said, "Okay. I'll go down to the shuttle bay."

Julian looked at Jake, "Go get yourself packed and down there with her as soon as possible. I'm going to have a quick meeting with Kira about this and then we can leave. She's the only one I'm telling exactly what's going on. Well her and Garak will know."

Both of the Siskos nodded and then quickly left sickbay. "What a mess," Julian declared as he put into Ops for an authorization to take a runabout and listed himself as the sole occupant. The Sisko cousins wouldn't be on the manifesto. They would simply disappear from the life of the station and no one would be the wiser until they were long gone.

##

Rekar knew he was being watched. They couldn't officially do anything until he was fully retired or unless he did something criminal like attempt to leave the planet. He knew that he had a limited window of opportunity to try and get certain things done on his end to investigate this situation.

He stayed home for the first half of the day and waited. There was one person he knew who might know something about what was going on, but first he needed answers before he could ask the proper questions. So he did something he hadn't done in nearly fifty years. He crossed over into the closed wing of his family home and entered his mother's old room.

He walked in and found himself paused at the doorway, awash in memories of her. She had been a tall, proud, beautiful woman. In the end that beauty and pride was the thing that saved his life, he realized, since the Praetor back then had been so taken with her. He knew she took everything of importance with her when taken to his palace after his father had been executed. He had searched her room numerous times in the past.

He began to scan the area, nonetheless. It was the thing to do at the beginning of any investigation. Begin at the beginning. As expected, he found nothing. What he did detect, however, showed him that obviously something was wrong with this scanner.

Rekar was thoroughly annoyed as he cleared the results and scanned again. He received the exact same reading. He found himself frowning.

Annoyed fully this time, he went back to the other part of his home. He picked up a newer, more efficient scanner, returned to his mother's old room and scanned it again. Not only did he receive the same reading, but since this scanner was more efficient it gave him even more details not picked up by the other scanner.

He found himself putting it down as his eyes stared off into space. Some things were already beginning to get clearer. But who had his mother been, really?

##

Jamie Lee was waiting at the runabout_ Hudson_ when Jake walked in with four huge and long, bulky bags filled with some kind of clanging equipment. "What is that?" she asked.

"Something to ensure your comfort."

She didn't know if she trusted that huge grin on his face. It was nearly midmorning and she was surprised to say, "You know, I think I'm hungry."

"Good!" The two then shared a meal while they sat in the doorway of the runabout, legs dangling over the open side. "Here comes Julian," Jake noticed.

The doctor approached them with his own two huge bags.

"What's in the bag, doc?" quipped Jamie.

"A portable bio-unit. I figured I could pass on the replicator since the _Hudson _here has one." He smiled at the two Sisko's. "Shall we shove off?"

The runabout left the station. He had spoken to Kira earlier about what was going on and she made certain to note that Julian had left on vacation through the wormhole with the runabout on his own.

When they left, they went in the direction of the wormhole, then abruptly swung around to Bajor's nightside. After being fully in the shadow of the planet, they took off in the opposite direction of the wormhole. Where they went, nobody knew.


	28. Baggage

_A/N - Information in this chapter is only halfway a product of my twisted brain._

_The seeds of 'what happened here?!' goes to two places: Jean Lorrah's book The IDIC Epidemic and the episode Star Trek:TOS Balance of Terror...  
_

_The Good News: You're going to get half a story about Rekar's mother._

_The Bad News: The other half of that story doesn't get filled in until chapter 30._

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, Romulus, Rekar or anything else in this tale, just the parts I happened to spin and I don't make any money off of it!

* * *

Once deep nightfall hit, Rekar went down into the depths of his family home. There was a place there, a special hidden doorway. He pushed his hand to the precise panel on the floor and it opened for him. After he stepped through, it closed behind him. After walking through an obviously hewn underground tunnel for some time, there was another door there and he went through it. It led directly outside, many yards from where the house 'appeared' to end right into the brush. After he disappeared out of the back part of his property, he was able to make it to a special hill in the woods in the black of night. He hoped Jamie Lee had listened to him and gotten off of the station. He didn't know when he would be able to communicate with her again or even how since his former act of talking to her in her dream seemed much too difficult to recreate. But in any case, there was something he needed to know first.

The scans of his mother's bedroom had produced more questions than answers. He suspected that if he cracked it open, it would lead him to where his father's Honor Blade had truly wound up.

He had only been eleven when his mother had had to deliver him into the hands of the Tal'Shiar to prevent his execution. Perhaps she had _not_, as he previously supposed, taken the blade to them. Perhaps she had taken it with _her_. It made no sense, however, since he didn't understand how that could be possible. It was standard procedure to hand a child over to the Tal'Shiar with the blade of the disgraced parent. It was a way for a child to earn his honor and thus the sword.

He traveled quickly through the wilderness near his family's home. His hard workouts made the trek easy for him. The invisible shadows that had been waiting outside his home were most likely still there, supposing he was asleep inside. Their job was just to watch and make certain he didn't leave. And if he did, they were to tail him. Nothing less, nothing more. The entrance/exit in the bowels of the castle-like structure were known only to the direct line of his father. At least he hoped they were the only ones who knew! He had to make it to where he needed to be, get the information and get back into that home by sunrise when he was expected to walk out into the full light of day and go about his usual daily business.

##

The runabout had a slightly rocky landing, but it was successful. Jamie Lee asked, "Where are we?"

The landscape was a dry, barren desert as far as the eye could see. It was not sand, either, it was scorching rock.

Julian smiled. "We're waiting here for word from Deep Space 9."

"Word from who?" asked Jake.

"Garak promised to tell me if anyone shows up looking for Jamie Lee. I figured in the meantime, who would want to come to Deklut 4?"

"What's that?" asked Jamie.

Julian smile. "A boring moon with no population."

Jamie sighed, "I guess we have to set up shop," she said as she stood. "Are those tents you brought, Jake?"

"No," he answered cryptically. "Better than tents."

"Let me help you set up then," she said.

"You will sit and relax," Julian vetoed her. "Eat something. Jake and I will set up."

"Guys, come on. I don't want to just sit around taking up space."

"I don't want to take any chances," Julian declared. "You're under enough stress as it is."

She slumped back into her chair on the runabout. "Fine. I'll eat. But then after that, I'm _doing_ something. Sitting around and doing nothing is making me feel even more anxious."

"Then knit something," Jake threw out carelessly.

Julian's eyes widened. He took two steps back and away from the cousins.

"What did you just say to me?" asked Jamie Lee with a very dangerous expression on her face.

Jake stammered, "See what I _meant_ was-"

"Yeah?"

Jake couldn't get any words out. He looked like a deer in headlights.

"You know what? I can't afford to be getting violent right now, but you have been _warned_." She then let out a very disgusted, "Pfft!" and turned on her heel to go and get something to eat.

"You shouldn't have said that," Julian muttered. "I think you got off very easy."

Jake only grinned as he hefted several of the bags out of the runabout and into the sun. "So long as it makes her stay in one place," he quipped.

##

Rekar made it to the outskirts of the city within an hour. He carefully circled around its perimeter and made his way into the lax security of the Southern Gate.

He was just a little bit impatient with himself. He hadn't formulated a true plan beyond this point. How did he even know if the old man was still living let alone still resided at the old rooming house reserved for those who had formerly seen glorious days but no longer did?

A city was like any other on any world. Something about city life never did lend itself to strict curfews. At this time of night there were enough people out on the streets to not attract too much attention to one particular person. Rekar still contained a valid military ID and knew that if he were stopped all he had to do was flash it. They would let him go, no questions asked. But then the deadly blonde bird over in Tal'Shiar headquarters would know he had been there and would maybe put the pieces together of where his family's sword _might_ be. He just hoped to the gods of the elements that he wasn't stopped.

He walked the city streets, head held high, as if this was exactly where he belonged. He knew that the thing that often got you stopped was looking suspicious or acting in a guilty manner.

It took the better part of an hour to get to where he needed to go since he didn't dare access any form of public transportation. They all contained surveillance. The public only suspected that, but he knew it was a fact.

He reached an almost dilapidated looking part of town. Crime was kept in check, he knew, by a nearly brutal police force not overseen by the government. Anytime things grew out of hand, they came in and punished first, asked questions later. It wasn't very nice, but it kept the lower classes in check and that in turn kept the military out of their business. So he knew, theoretically, he should be able to make it through the building and to the old room of the court physician of a Praetor from times past.

He finally reached a door. That should be it. He knocked gently. It took two more tries, but finally the door opened a crack. "Who is there?" asked an obviously paranoid old man.

It didn't occur to Rekar how bad this must look. It was in the a.m. and this man was very old and alone. "I've only come to ask you some questions."

"That's what they all say," the nearly ancient looking man complained as he opened the door and let him in. He saw that Rekar was alone. "What? No partner? You types usually travel in pairs."

Rekar watched the old court physician close the door and simply waited for him to shuffle back over to a chair and slowly sit down. His standard room looked at least well kept and comfortable. Maybe someone looked out for him after all? "I'm not here on official business," said Rekar.

"Unofficial business?" laughed the old man. "They say that a lot, too."

"Who is 'they'?"

"You think you're the first agent to show your nose around here through the years? Word to the wise. Never serve a praetor directly. It'll be the bane of your existence even after he is long gone. Because once his rule is done, everyone wants to know where your loyalty lies and the historians and the_ feckling_ students with their histories and reports and—bah!"

He knew if he didn't address the time, his Jamie Lee would be very disappointed in him. So though it was not like himself, he said, "I apologize for the time I've come here. But it was the only time I could get away."

The old man had fixed on his face. "No one ever apologizes for what time they come, either." He nodded at a chair. "Sit. Something tells me this may take some time. As to when you arrived, I do not sleep much these days, a side effect of old age."

Rekar put his hand up in a 'thanks, but no thanks' to the seat. "I care not for the former Praetor you served. My area of interest is of the former courtesan, Arienn."

He looked at him carefully. "Yes! The one who outsmarted him. You should have seen the look on his face!" he said, obviously still mirthful about what had happened.

"Tell me of it."

The old man looked at him as if he were crazy. "You look to be old enough to maybe remember such a time, but I know you had to have been too young to remember much. Who is she to you?"

"She was my mother."

His face warmed over significantly. "I see. And is there anything in particular you want to know about your mother?"

"Anything you can remember?"

He laughed as he stood and shuffled over to an old style heating unit. The physician then began fiddling with an antique kettle of the sort no longer sold anywhere. He started up an actual flame and put the kettle on to boil. "Surprisingly, this brain has retained it all. Where should I start?"

"At the beginning?" Rekar suggested, not wanting to piss the old man off by being impatient.

The physician had already shuffled back across the room and sighed in relief as he sat. "Arienne came to us against her will. We all knew that. But he was infatuated with her. I didn't understand why." He laughed. "Well I did understand since she _was_ beautiful. The Praetor back then had many pretty things under lock and key. You see, uniqueness is the thing that always captured his attention. And in her case, she was unique."

Rekar's heart sped up. This was what he needed to know. "I took readings of my mother's room and I think I know the nature of that uniqueness."

"She was of mixed blood. The daughter of a captured man… well, boy. As a physician to the Praetor, I had access to records most governments would think I ought not. Curiosity was a part of my nature back then and I read the records, cover to cover without care of how classified they happened to be. The man, her father, was captured as a small boy from the planet Vulcan. Manipulated, made to be confused of his true heritage. I hear the humans refer to it as 'brainwashed'." The old man laughed. "In cases such as that, it is less of a brain-washing and more of a history-replacing. This boy became a man, grew to maturity, married, produced two children staunchly loyal to this Empire, a male and a female. By the time Arienn came to us, her brother had already died in disgrace. They did not say exactly why, he was simply blacklisted. It was easier to do this back then without questions from anyone else. It was a much more brutal time."

"Yes, I know. The incursions into Federation space with the new cloaking technology back then," nodded Rekar. "He failed and instead of being captured he took himself and his crew into death. To me, that was honorable. I never understood the true reason it was considered a failure." He had read the reports before of the incident, but it hadn't occurred to him until then that that man was his uncle?

"That was not the reason it was a disgrace," said the old court physician. The kettle began to sing. When he went to stand, Rekar was the one who quickly went and took it off of the old burning stove. "Thank you," said the physician. "It was a disgrace because he had a fuller mission he was to carry out later but never had the chance to succeed at. An entire takeover plot was diverted by his death."

"Takeover plot?"

"It is the duty of Romulans, our true destiny, to take over the galaxy. I am sure you are aware of this?" said the physician, his sarcasm on high.

"Yes," he said, a bitter taste in his mouth. The problem was that Rekar was no longer certain that destiny was true or correct. But he said nothing.

The old physician shrugged and shuffled over, made himself a cup of tea. "Would you like one?"

"No, thank you," said Rekar as he took the cup from the old man to make certain he didn't spill it.

The physician shuffled back over to his seat and sat down again, accepted his cup back from Rekar. "So Arienn- There was a bit of a collector's fascination from the Praetor because of her mixed blood. She was, in his eyes, proof of how we were destined to go and reclaim Vulcan, reunify us. She was kept as the living personification of this ultimate goal. First Vulcan and then the galaxy."

Rekar had always suspected there was something different about his mother. She was long gone now and this information just confirmed his thoughts. He needed to sit down, nonetheless, and so he did.

"Yes, you would need to sit down after something like that," the man said in between sips. "It's why your mother was able to save your life. She passed on abilities to you you should not have. Sometimes it is amazing how just the right, or wrong, set of circumstances lines up to save or snuff out a life."

Rekar waited patiently. "There is more?"

The man chuckled as he sipped his tea. "There was once a prisoner captured. You know him well, the entire quadrant knows of this man. Famous from the moment of his birth. Spock of Vulcan. He was sent into this empire when he was still quite young during his days with Starfleet to do who knows what. I still do not know until this day. I am a physician and therefore I do not care. But he was captured and brought to the Praetor as a gift. A unique gift since he was not only of Vulcan, but of half human lineage." There was a long pause. "My old master was not the most intelligent." He shook his head. "Ascending to power is easy. Keeping it is not. And with the mistakes that Praetor made, I am surprised he kept it as long as he did. This Spock, tortured, bound, blind-folded, was dumped in with your mother. The Praetor was curious if they would discover-" he stopped talking then, feeling he was getting off of the subject. "It does not matter," he sighed. "The outcome is what I am certain you wish to know, is it not?"

"The Blade," Rekar finally urged, anxiousness in his stomach.

"When your mother realized her father's true heritage, by accident nonetheless… Now she was an intelligent woman. Three well asked questions of me at different times and she deduced the true reason she was being kept. She decided she would not languish in that form of dishonor any longer. She would release herself and free her family name from dishonor making certain her son had a future independent of the government in the process. Only half of that was achieved when you were given to the Tal'Shiar. In a final strike back at the Praetor and the system that, she felt, had set her and her brother up for failure, she helped the half Vulcan prisoner escape and gave over the Blade into his hand to keep until such time as you needed it."

Rekar was actually dumbfounded. Finding out his mother was half-Vulcan was a little bit of a shock, but things like this did happen more regularly than anyone knew. Romulans stole the children of prominent enemies on a regular basis and raised them as their own. In some rare cases, they kidnapped Romulan children and left them for Vulcans to find in order to hurt the Romulan family who had betrayed the government in some way. He had always been staunchly loyal to the military and the Tal'Shiar, was always willing in the past to carry out whatever they wanted him to. But this practice had always seemed inherently wrong to him and his objection and refusal to do that one thing was on record. Perhaps, deep down inside, he always knew? Half-Vulcan mother, small shock.

Finding out Spock had his blade, however, was a LARGE shock. He remembered the days of the Tal'Shiar attempting to find the older man when he had come in covertly for his own brand of reunification. They knew he was attempting it in a different way, spreading the word of Surak and logic to Romulans in an almost missionary-like way. The destiny of them to take Vulcan was being turned on its ear. It would appear the Vulcans would overtake them, given time!

And then they found him. Rekar was very confused by this because Sela let him continue to work, didn't do anything at first. It led to her fiasco of disgrace when she tried to use Spock's image to take a conquering fleet to Vulcan.

Suddenly, the reason Sela was so vitriolic toward him personally began to make some sense to Rekar. The woman had never liked him. There was so much hidden history and baggage… He suspected piece of this story was still not known to him. Whatever it was, it was obvious the court physician either didn't know, didn't remember, or didn't care to tell it. The important thing was now he knew where his blade might be

He closed his eyes tiredly. Was this all a set-up to lure the ambassador back in? He opened his eyes. Did Sela truly not know that Ambassador Spock was in possession of his Honor Blade? And worse yet, how was he going to get to it? The Ambassador had been on Romulus for many years, but he was no longer there as far as he knew. How was he going to get the blade from Vulcan to here on time? He was being watched. Leaving his home in the dark of night for a quick jaunt through the city was one thing. Getting off of the planet undiscovered without someone informing on him was another entirely. The sad thing about space travel was you needed friends and help and clearance to take off. And you most certainly needed a way to get out of the Empire unobstructed. All of those ways were now closed to him thanks to Sela.

"Thank you," he said to the old man as he stood. He looked around at his furnishings. "You're not living here anymore as of next week," he told him. "I can arrange for better surroundings for you."

The old man shook his head as he finished off his tea. "I appreciate your concern. But I am old now. And this is my home. Go back and take what is rightfully yours for whatever reason you've decided that now is the time. Your mother, for that short time, was a friend to me. And I've kept her secret all of these years for her kindness to me. Jolan Tru, young man."

"Jolan Tru," he said and then departed.


	29. House of t'Velal

_A/N - I edited this so much, I'm now sick of looking at it! It took me a little longer to get through this one for some reason, I don't know why, since nothing 'pivotal' gets revealed here. (That's the NEXT chapter.) But this is one of those 'filler chapters before important stuff that happens'. Please forgive any errors you find since I found myself literally editing this sentence by sentence, over and over again, and for some reason I was just nitpicking at every little thing here and there. And yes, 30 has already been written and it's being edited, ad nauseum, at this time, lol!_

* * *

By the time the sun began to set, Jamie Lee was fed up with sitting down in the runabout. She walked out to find her cousin and Julian putting the finishing touches on a very funny looking tent. The air was starting to get very chilly and she was already shivering.

"What is this, guys?" She asked. "Hope this tent has heat. It feels like it's getting horribly cold as the sun goes down."

Jake gave her his signature grin. "Come inside and take a look."

As she started to walk inside it, she realized what was strange about it. Instead of the regular 'tent shape' with a point at the top, it was in the shape of a square. Jake walked inside with her as Julian went back to the runabout. From the outside, it was a dark fabric set up along poles. But when she walked into the structure, it was black and she couldn't see a thing. "You forgot the lights?"

"Computer, acknowledge!" Jake said.

The structure lit up on the inside and all around her was the blank inner sphere of what looked like the iridescent cubes of a holodeck. She started to giggle. "What is this? We're going to sleep in here tonight? It's kind of cool, but it's also a bit creepy, though," she admitted.

Jake put one arm around her shoulder and now his grin was even wider. "Rom made this portable prototype months ago and we already tested it out on the station and on Bajor. He's been wanting it to get field tested for slightly harsher conditions, so I took it for a spin here. It's a portable holodeck. Computer: Run noblewoman's bedroom, Program 3."

They heard a series of clicks and whirs and the space changed around them.

There was a luxuriant king-sized bed with fluffy down comforters, a plush carpet under their feet and a crackling fireplace at the foot of the bed.

Jamie Lee's mouth dropped open. She went up to the fireplace, automatically drawn to its warmth. "Jake, this thing is amazing!"

"Yeah, Julian and I will sleep in there," he pointed over at a door.

Jamie Lee went over to it and opened it manually. There were a set of bunk beds staring back at her and she began to laugh. "That's just wrong!"

"What?" he asked on his own laugh.

"I get a king sized bed and you guys get bunk beds?"

"It's no big deal! Either spot is a comfortable place to sleep, compared to out there. And besides, we can't alter the program since that's the way it came. I could always sleep on the floor in here. The carpet feels pretty good cushioned."

"How are you getting enough power to generate this continuously? Where's the computer?" she asked as she started to look around. She realized she should have tried to see it before, but she hadn't known what this place was before!

"I don't completely understand what Rom was saying, but there's a portable generator hooked up outside that has a port running through the fabric of the walls themselves and into a mainframe. It runs partly off of solar energy. Oh! And gel packs. Lots of gel packs. There's holo-adapters in every corner of the room controlling the environment. If we ran this program nonstop for seven days straight, then the power would still work since we'd still have the solar input, but we wouldn't be able to run the holodeck anymore since the gelpacks would be totally burned out. At least we'd still have heat and cooling, though," said Jake. "And it's capable of running two other programs, but they're really basic like this one. No people, just objects. If we hook up the runabout's replicator in this we could even eat in here."

"And speaking of eating, I'm starving!"

"Let's go get Julian and see about dinner, then."

##

Garak was standing in his shop holding a length of thread. He saw two Romulans walking with the rest of the population of DS9. They had come from the host of people spilling out of the docking area and onto the promenade. The difference, this time, was these two were wearing the standard of the Tal'Shiar. "How obvious," he muttered to himself, disgusted at their transparency. Whoever had sent them didn't think Jamie Lee would be at all prepared for them coming for her.

He watched the two as they looked from one direction to the next, paused in place. They spoke to one another for a couple of seconds and then headed straight for the habitat ring.

Kira had given him a good dressing down about his 'plans'. Apparently, Julian Bashir still had somewhat of a big mouth. So he hit his communicator as she had requested of him. "Garak to Kira."

"Kira here."

"Our guests have arrived."

"Noted."

Garak knew he wasn't supposed to, but he went and followed anyway. He gave station security a time limit in his mind. If they didn't arrive within his preset time limit, there were going to be two dead agents in the hallway.

##

Rekar tried over and over to reach Jamie telepathically the way he had before. All he succeeded in doing was attaining a large headache. In his last effort to communicate, perhaps he had strained or burned something out?

It had been two days since his conversation with the old court physician. Time was ticking down. There were nine or ten days left and then they were going to come and take him into custody.

He saw then, he had no choice. He supposed Sela would somehow twist things so that they could put him in shackles early if she had her way. She was probably trumping up charges as he sat there, formulating a way to take him into custody on a technicality. Knowing he was a telepath, and why, he realized her true hatred for him then. It was no secret the disgust and contempt she felt for Vulcans in general. General disdain of Vulcans by Romulans was ordinary. But in Sela, it ran much deeper now since she had so disastrously failed in her plot to conquer the people she held in such contempt. She had a lot to prove and he was now a key part of her latest proving ground. The last stick of dynamite on the whole fire for her was probably his human wife pregnant with a half Romulan child…

There was a rumor that her mother had tried to run rather than stay with her father. It had to stick in her craw that there were human females now voluntarily marrying Romulans and producing children with them, _living on Romulus_. Jamie Lee was now added to that number. The difference, this time, was that these women were given a choice, they were not prisoners. Sela's mother had not been given a choice, not truly.

Speaking of choices, he went to the communications console of his home and sighed. This one message would be all he could get out and then he knew they would come for him. If it had not been before, his system was now obviously being watched for outgoing and incoming transmissions. And they would let this one get out just to see where it landed.

When they came for him, he would go voluntarily and leave the rest up to his wife. "It's all up to you now," he whispered as he put in the encoded words and sent them out to her.

##

Jamie Lee sat up quickly. Her PADD had chirped at her. A message? Her heart was beating quickly as she leaned over to grab it off of the nightstand.

The room had been a wonderful nighttime place to sleep, what with the comfort of the bed and the roaring fireplace to keep off the chill. But it had been two days of waiting and nothingness. And now this.

She took the PADD and sat it on her lap, saw the message had come from Rekar. She decrypted it quickly with the codes given to her by Rekar and read it. It got right to the point:

**Go to Vulcan!**

** Ambassador Spock will help you.**

** My mother's name was Arienn Relma t'Velal.**

** Say her name. He will know why.**

##

Rekar saw the official vehicle pulling up to his home within minutes of sending that message. He went to the door of his property and opened it. He had no illusions about trying to run. He would only get killed in the process and leave his wife and son with nothing.

As soon as he stepped out, three agents walked up to him and placed him in custody. Of course they didn't tell him what the charges were. No words were spoken, he just surrendered.

He knew it would take them at least three days to decode exactly what he'd sent. He hoped Jamie Lee ran from wherever she was immediately so the trail was already cold by the time they got to wherever that signal led.

By the time she arrived at Vulcan, he knew they would just then have decode the message and know exactly where she was at. He hoped she got back off of that planet with the Blade in time before the agents tracked her trail there.

##

Within two hours of her receiving the message, they were hastily packed and gone. "How exactly are we supposed to get in and see the ambassador?" asked Jake.

"I don't know," Jamie shrugged. "I don't want to involve my sister or her husband's family in this, so I don't want to contact them."

"Where does he even live?" asked Jake.

"Let's look in the database. I mean, does he even serve anymore?" asked Jamie Lee.

"I heard he was retired or something," Jake put in.

Julian went into the runabout's memory systems and began a search. "According to this," he said as he read, "he spends a lot of his days in the desert."

"Oh, great!" exclaimed Jake. "We gotta walk around in Vulcan's heat looking for an old man?"

Jamie Lee smacked Jake's arm. "Have some respect for him!"

Jake cocked his head to the side. "Didn't you used to have a crush on the ambassador?"

Jamie floundered, unable to get words out at first, embarrassment on her face. "I—I—I don't know what you're talking about!" Truthfully, she remembered looking at his pictures in history class from when he was younger and she always did have a terrible crush on him. Even aged, she thought he was a very distinguished looking man.

"Oh leave her alone," Julian laughed. "We've all got our celebrity crushes."

Jamie Lee looked at Jake and squinted as she thought of Kira Nerys. "Or our not-so-celebrity crushes," she taunted.

She didn't even need to say the name out loud. Julian began to laugh because he knew exactly to whom she referred when it came to Jake.

"Oh, does _everyone_ know?" Jake asked, frustrated.

"Yes," Julian and Jamie said at the same time.

"So fine then," said Jake. "What about you, Julian. Who's yours?"

"Who's my what?"

"Celebrity or not-so-celebrity crush," asked Jamie. "And you can't say Ezri, everybody knows since you two aren't keeping that such a great secret anyway."

He shook his head. "That's for me to know and you two to find out."

Both Siskos shouted words of, "_So_ not fair!" and "You holdout!"

##

They arrived at Vulcan and asked for permission to land and sent forward their request to see the ambassador. At first they were kept waiting in orbit for about half a day.

"I'm getting nervous sitting here like this," said Jamie Lee as she paced the runabout.

"This is standard procedure when you want to see a man like the ambassador," said Julian Bashir.

When High Command got back to them, they wanted to know who exactly was in the runabout to forward the information to the ambassador. When Julian went to put it in, Jamie Lee had a hunch. "When you put in my name, add t'Velal to the end of it. That might do it."

Julian did so and within five minutes, they received a call directly from the surface. Their viewscreen activated and the ambassador himself was staring back at them. "You wish to see me?" he asked, curious. "There was the additional name of t'Velal on your manifesto?" he was searching their faces.

Jamie Lee was thunderstruck with hero worship. She felt gooseflesh breaking out on her arms and she also found she couldn't speak. As a matter of fact, she was beginning to feel faint. "I don't think I feel so well," she finally muttered.

"I'm Dr. Julian Bashir from Deep Space 9. This is Jake Sisko."

"Yes, I met Benjamin Sisko once," confirmed Spock. He then looked at the young lady. "You are also a Sisko, yet you are of the House of t'Velal?" he asked, momentarily confused.

"I'm Jamie Lee Sisko t'Velal," she finally found her voice, "and my husband needs something now—something of his that you've had for a very long time."

Understanding dawned in his eyes. "I see." Was that a half smile on his face? "You may come directly to my residence, all of you. Come at once."


	30. Sensory Overload

_A/N - More of the truth comes out in this chapter._

_The Star Trek: TOS episode, Balance of Terror is referenced once again here._

_Also, I must reiterate this is an AU to canon and it links directly in with my Spock/Uhura series. It will loosely answer your question (for those who have read my last ST short story 'In Limbo'), where the heck was Spock all of that time he was gone? _

* * *

As soon as they landed, they could all see from the window of the runabout that the ambassador himself was waiting outside the gate of his residence.

Jamie Lee was very nervous and wished she at least had a mirror to make certain she looked decent. She kicked herself, mentally. "Hero worship is not healthy!" she was muttering over and over. "Oh please don't let me act like an embarrassing human in this situation," she was pleading on a whisper as the three of them began to exit the shuttle. Jake looked back at her with a wink. He was having a little too much fun at her expense.

As soon as she got out, she felt it immediately. Simply put, it was hot! 'Hot as hell' would no longer mean a thing to her from that point. The new expression in her head would be 'hot as Vulcan'. She now understood what _that_ meant the few times her sister had said it! "Oh man. I think I feel slightly faint," she half muttered half whispered to no one in particular.

Julian looked at her, worried. "Is it the excitement of meeting the ambassador or is it the heat, Jamie?"

"I think it's a triple team combination- one part nerves, to one part hormonal hysteria, to one part heat stroke. I hope I can sit down again soon or splash some cold water on my face," she whispered, "because I think I'm emotionally overloaded or something. Is the baby okay, do you think?"

"Your inner monitor hasn't tripped any alerts in my equipment, so the baby is fine," Julian assured her. "Ordinarily I would say take deep breaths, but the air here is too thin." He was now kicking himself mentally. "I should have given you a shot of tri-ox before we walked out into this."

"You can't think of everything, Julian," she said with full understanding. And the mood swings were all over the place because she was now close to catching a case of the giggles as they drew closer to the ambassador. "These are some weird circumstances."

"You can say that again," muttered Jake.

She paused for a beat but just couldn't help it. "These are some weird circumstances," she repeated. It was an old habit in their family among the children and now the cousins were giggling nervously at the inside joke, shoulders shaking from trying to restrain it but not succeeding. It at least felt good to laugh!

"Cut it out, you two, there's a Vulcan ambassador staring at us not too far away," Julian snapped.

"The Vulcan," said Spock, loud enough for them all to hear, "is old enough to understand the exuberance of youth."

All three of them were dumbfounded.

Of course he heard it all, he had _superior hearing_! "Damn damn_ damn_," muttered Jamie Lee rapidly as her nerves grew worse.

Though he was still straight-faced, on the inside Spock was very amused!

##

He let them into his home and said, "As a show of my sincere hospitality, I invite you all to dinner at this time since it is nearly that hour. Shall you accept?"

The home was modest on the inside, but it was obvious amongst the Vulcan furniture and colors, there had been a human influence here in the past. That influence was intact via curtains at the window, a dark wood grandfather clock ticking in a corner and several well-knitted colorful afghans placed here and there on the furniture.

"We're kind of in a hurry-" Jake started to say.

Julian cut him off and answered, "Yes, we shall stay."

"And you shall, of course, accept my hospitality to remain overnight?" It was asked in question format, but it was obviously not a request.

The three of them looked at one another, taken aback. Who could turn this man down? It's not as if any of them knew what to do once she retrieved the blade anyway. "Yes, we'll stay, but just for the night," answered Jamie Lee.

The ambassador started toward his kitchen, "I shall go and prepare the meal."

"Isn't it the custom for the guests to prepare the meal?" asked Julian. "Please, allow me."

Spock nodded. "You are familiar with Vulcan customs, I see, doctor. You may all help if you wish to do so."

##

After being shown their rooms for the evening and getting a chance to clean up, the three of them were working in his modest but well-stocked kitchen. It was a comforting thought that they would sleep in a house in an actual bed instead of in a holodeck that was really a huge tent out in the open.

Jake and Jamie Lee had been put to work in their grandfather's kitchen often enough to know exactly what to do once they stepped into the ambassador's. She found chickpea flour in his larder and asked, "May I make a flatbread?"

"Yes, of course," he said, quite pleased. "I should like to make a request that you add garlic? They grow in my herb garden."

"Of course!" she said happily.

By the time they were done preparing the meal, the three newcomers were exhausted from the increased gravity, extra heat and comparative lack of air. At least the inside of the house was cooler than the outside. Before they could eat, Julian said, "It's time for your scan," to Jamie Lee.

Once the two disappeared, Spock began to set the table and Jake offered to assist.

"May I ask, is your cousin unwell?"

The young man grinned unashamedly. "No. Just pregnant."

Spock's eyebrow rose. "I see."

##

They enjoyed their evening meal. In the middle of it, Julian asked her, "Is that all you're going to eat this evening, Jamie?"

She sighed. "I can't fit in anymore food right now. I think the heat is affecting my appetite."

"You have a calorie deficit of seven hundred for the day," he reminded her.

"I promise that before I go to sleep I will eat 700 more calories," she said, "somehow."

"I trust you will," he said with a fond twinkle in his eye. She gave him a serious look of attitude before drinking down the mango lassi concoction Julian had made to go with dinner.

Afterward, the ambassador sat and played his _ka'athyra_ for them. She remembered the pictures from his younger years. There was one of him holding an instrument like that and she wondered if it was the same one. How she used to stare at it! She mused to herself while laughing on the inside, it was probably where she had developed the crush on men with pointed ears!

Those thoughts inevitably lead to thoughts of Rekar. She swallowed back a lump of nauseous fear and anxiety. She loved him so much and was so afraid of doing the wrong things in this situation, of not being able to truly help him. She was afraid because she didn't even know what it was she was supposed to do once she picked up the blade! So she would get the thing in her hands, and then what? She didn't even know how she was going to get into the Empire from there. She reached out to that feeling in her mind and felt him there, just out of reach. At least she could still sense him.

After fifteen minutes of listening to his fine playing, Jamie Lee started to wonder when they would get down to the business at hand. Ambassador Spock had to know why she was there.

A short time after that, Spock looked up at both of the males in the room. "I must speak with Jamie Lee alone, if you two do not mind."

"Not at all," said Julian as Jake shook his head.

"Young lady," he said as he stood and indicated she should precede him. "Step with me into the garden."

Jamie Lee stood and even though her earlier nerves and hero worship had dropped to a more normal level, she still was in awe of the ambassador.

They walked into what was more like a greenhouse than anything else. Her mouth dropped open as she looked around. It was very well kept and cultivated. A small cascading fountain of trickling water falling over rocks in a pool sat near the middle of a sea of plants, trees, herbs and shrubs. A bench sat near it, obviously a place meant for rest and reflection. Every color of plant from not just Earth or Vulcan, but from many places galaxy-wide, took up residence in the spot. The greenhouse was at least one thousand square feet.

"This is beautiful," she whispered as she looked around her. The oxygen content here was also much more comfortable and conducive to her breathing better than she had since arriving.

He nodded. "It was my mother's, originally." He sat down on the long wide bench and indicated the place next to him. "Please, be seated. Tell me of what has happened to bring about this need?"

She sat down and then turned to face him. But as soon as she thought of Rekar, her heart dropped. "It hasn't been long since Rekar and I got married, but he's a Romulan military man also in service to the Tal'Shiar."

"Hence the doctor's concern over your caloric intake for the child," Spock nodded.

She smiled slightly. "Yes. But Rekar is in trouble," she said, her smile gone. "See, he was given retirement from the military, but now he's trying to retire from the Tal'Shiar, but he said he can't until he has his father's Honor Blade so he can be considered his own man, so he can have his full name back. They don't want to let him go, though, because he's a telepath and—I have to admit I don't fully understand any of this, what any of it means. I just know that my husband is in trouble and he's counting on me to help get him out of it. I had to run from DS9 because now they're after me, too. I probably shouldn't even be here since it's probably putting you in danger."

Spock only sat there, watching her and then he looked down at her stomach. "Fascinating," he muttered. "That it would all come full circle in a human."

She frowned. "What?"

He looked down into the eyes of the young woman sitting next to him. "There is much to tell and I want to make certain I do not speak overly much of a subject that may very well bore you. But I shall start somewhat at the beginning. Understand, however, that at first this tale will seem to not have anything at all to do with your husband's blade, but it does."

She nodded. "Yes, sir. It's fine. Tell me whatever you think you need to."

He paused as he collected his thoughts. His eyes looked into hers. "The name 'Solkar', it is familiar to you?"

She nodded. "Everyone knows his name. He was the first Vulcan to set foot on Earth and made First Contact with us."

"Yes, he made first contact between both of my people. Without it, I would not exist." He wondered how much more this girl knew about him, though. "And do you know his affiliation with me?"

"He's your great-grandfather," she said.

"And do you know the name of his son, my grandfather?" he asked, beginning to feel amused now.

"Skon," she whispered. She wanted to fidget in discomfort, but didn't.

He couldn't hide a partial grin any longer. "You are very aware of my history, are you not?"

She realized then that she was actually being teased by him! "Sir!"

He mostly straightened out his face then, but the amusement remained. It was an indulgence of old men since time immemorial, the enjoyment of agitating young women and causing them to blush. "The story begins, I suppose, with Solkar and Skon. Solkar made first contact with Earth, yes," he halfway sighed as he stood and lifted a water can, began to give some of the plants little bits of water. "But Skon, my grandfather, was not the only child born of Solkar."

"He had a daughter," said Jamie Lee. "I remember that much from the history books."

"Yes. He had a daughter, T'Rea. But he also had another son."

She frowned. "He did?" She remembered history very well and this other son was never mentioned.

"The boy was lost at a very young age. He went out for his Kahs Wan- a desert survival rite of passage—but the boy never returned."

Jamie's heart skipped a beat. Being pregnant with a son didn't help the situation any. She fought back tears. "That's terrible."

Spock sighed and nodded. "Yes, quite terrible. Stekel's body was never recovered. He was presumed dead for so long, it was almost a fact within the family by the time I came along."

She frowned. "But he wasn't dead, was he?"

He only just stopped himself from biting his lower lip. "No. I am going to skip to a part of the tale now that was once top secret. It no longer is." He crossed over to another part of the garden to water plants there as Jamie Lee's eyes followed. "Many years ago serving on board the _Enterprise_, we were the first crew ever to set eyes on Romulans. It was only then that we all began to understand who they truly were in relation to Vulcans. But that was not the significant thing in that moment. At least not for me, it was not." He went and sat back down next to her. Slight confusion marred his features as he recalled that day. "On the viewscreen I saw a face that chilled my insides, for that face was a mirror image of my own father, Sarek. It was… fascinating to say the least."

"Was that Stekel?" she asked, confused.

"No, I found out later that the man who was almost an exact copy of my father was the son of Stekel. My uncle's son was born and as time passed he looked so much like he who was my father -in fact, his cousin- that there was a plot in the makings by the upper echelons of the Romulan intelligence community that he would infiltrate the Federation, after kidnapping my father, and take his place. Neither mission succeeded because it never had an opportunity to be carried out."

She shook her head, fascinated herself by all that he was willing to share. "Wow," was all she could get out on a whisper.

"'Wow', indeed," he agreed. "I found myself not too many years later trapped behind enemy lines in the Empire. Tortured, abused, I was dumped, blind-folded into a room with a Romulan noblewoman. I was left there in that state, I suspect, more to torment her than myself. But this form of torment aimed at her backfired."

"Was her name Arienn t'Velal?" she asked.

"In fact, it was."

"Rekar's mother," she finished connecting that dot.

"Rekar's mother, sister of my father's doppelganger, my lost uncle Stekel's daughter, his second child. Though I was blind-folded and unable to move, I could speak. And soon the connection was established."

She was calculating everything in her head. "So you're Rekar's cousin," she realized. "That's why you kept the blade! But how did you even get it? How did you escape? How did-"

He wanted to smile at her excitement and eagerness to know it all, but he didn't. He only raised his hand to still her questions. "She gave me the blade and she helped me to escape. Arienn had me swear a sacred oath to keep it until the day her son would need it. With her situation in life, her dealings with everything, after all that she wound up realizing speaking with me and the court physician, her realizations about her true identity, she did not trust that whoever was in power at the time would hand the sword over when it mattered most. You must understand that these realizations happened over a period of time since I was a guest of the Empire for quite some time back then. I have found occasion to be inside the Romulan world for many years at a time since then and I have watched your husband, yes, my cousin in fact, from afar. He did not ever seem to be in need of his blade. After the last fiasco-" he paused. "Suffice it to say, I decided to return home for a time."

She nodded. "Okay. I understand now." She began to shake her head though. There was something else missing here. "So they stole a boy. How old was he?"

"The trial is usually undertaken at approximately seven years of age."

She tried to control it, but she was very angry then. "So they stole a very little boy, because to me a seven year old is still almost a baby. Then they brainwashed him, treated his kids like expendable trash when they grew up and now they're probably about to maybe torture his grandson and can't wait to get their hands on _my son_? Why?"

"That anger shall carry you through to the things that must now be done, and only by you," he said. He knew years ago he would never have thought, let alone said, such a thing about an emotional reaction. "As to the 'why', the only thing I am able to deduce is that Solkar attracted much attention when he made first contact with your people. He was deemed an enemy for bridging two cultures on the brink of greatness, two cultures that would join together to fight against them. However I do not believe I shall ever truly and fully understand the full reasons for them taking the child and raising him as their own. I suspect the greater answer for the minds back then was the simple chilling explanation of, 'we tried it because we could'."

He almost sighed. "There is much I need to convey to you about the sword and how you must present it in order to free your husband so that they cannot touch him. But you are in need of sleep and further nourishment if Dr. Bashir is correct."

"I know. So, do I go to sleep now and get up early in the morning so you can fill me in or-"

He lifted his hand to touch her face, "If you would allow a meld, I can convey the information much faster this way."

She looked at his hand as if it were a spider. _Oh, nooo! He's going to see the thoughts I had about him when I was younger and in loooove with his pictures!_ "That's okay," she shook her head, trying to keep her eyes from widening in fear. "I don't mind talking it out."

He knew her source of worry had to do with privacy. "I promise not to see anything you do not want seen."

She sighed. This was for Rekar, after all. She relented. "Okay."

Within three seconds of his hand touching her face, he realized:

_You are bonded… _

##

Jamie Lee was in the meld for less than half an hour, but she emerged drained, emotional and very hungry. She also had information coursing through her mind she previously didn't have. There were also experiences there that were not hers that she wished she didn't know. It was going to take a little time to sort it all. She looked up at Spock and saw a man still functioning after a lifetime of painful events, but also felt it. She tried to hold back the tears, but the sensory overload was too great. How was he still functional?

The events of the past couple of days for her, in fact months, had been pulled into the dragnet of information exchange between herself and Spock. The tears came despite her trying her best to fight them and she found herself so exhausted she didn't have the energy to feel embarrassed.

She looked up into his eyes and was surprised to find unshed tears in his. He simply said, "I could not avoid experiencing the state of things between you and your parents. I apologize that I could not avoid seeing those events since they were very prominent in your mind. I grieve with thee."

She found herself almost gasping as she cried even worse. She wanted to tell him that what she had been through in her life was nowhere near what he had been through. And the whole additional issue of the injustice of a boy stolen so long ago had gone unanswered for so long.

"Come," he said as he stood her up and led her into the living room. "I have disturbed you deeply with the meld. Come and drink tea with me and relax until you are able to eat and then sleep."


	31. An Old Sword

_A/N - I decided to stop nitpicking this chapter and just post it already. I'm not satisfied with it, but here it is. I suspect there will be two more chapters after this, maybe three, it depends on how it all fits together in the end. And now for the last warning, this chapter is kind of LONG, so sorry about that!_

* * *

Rekar was sitting in that room for what had to be hours. He knew this procedure quite well. It was supposed to inspire fear in him, make him want to talk, to tell whatever it was they wanted to know. But since he already knew the procedure, he knew what was likely going to happen next and it did not fill him with fear. There was one feeling he was filled with, all right, and that 'something' was annoyance.

Sela finally walked in then with a taunting swagger. "Your little wife, it appears, fled Deep Space 9. A modicum of sense, I see."

He didn't know if she was telling the truth. But some part of him suspected she was and he didn't want to show the relief he felt. So he found himself using great effort to force his face into an expression of neutrality and said nothing.

She saw she was getting no reaction, so she continued, "But your little message got to her. It has revealed her whereabouts. A patrol then tracked her down and has killed her. We also decoded your message not two hours ago. Sorry, Rekar," she cooed, false sincerity on full.

Before he could even begin to panic, some part of him from the back of his mind came to forefront. He could suddenly feel the presence of his wife where he had not before. She was cool, silent. He realized she was asleep. He didn't question how it was he knew this, but he knew for a certainty that his Jamie Lee was not dead. Sela was just trying to provoke him. But into what?

"So what shall we do now?" he asked, acting as if he were unconcerned. Though his wife was safe now, it didn't mean she would remain that way. "And would you be good enough to inform me, exactly why have I been brought here?"

It was obvious to her that he didn't believe his wife was dead. She moved on to her next mode of attack. "You have committed treason."

"It is not treasonous to retain one's honor."

"You pledged service to this Empire and you are attempting to leave without presenting your Blade and being excused. That means you are attempting to abandon your post. That is treason."

He found himself folding his arms. "Come now, Sela. We both know it will arrive here and on time. You think I don't know these tactics? I've used them." He knew they had not truly finished decrypting his message. She was fishing for what was in it until whoever it was working on it deciphered its true meaning. "My wife is alive and you don't know what I sent to her. I could have been sending a recipe for mollusk stew. As far as I'm aware, that is not treasonous. In fact, communicating with your spouse is not treasonous in the least unless I send a message to her to do something to overtly help overthrow the Empire. And how can one human do that all by herself? What is it you're truly worried about?"

"Marrying her was treasonous, at best!" she snapped.

He sat there, eyes calculating, wondering if he should take the risk. Having 'had it' with her, he decided it was time for him to be the one to toy with her mind. "If marriage to a human female is treasonous, what does that say about your own father? My wife, at least, is a civilian. Your mother? She was Starfleet."

She found herself doing what she never wished to do during any interrogation. She lost her cool. Her hand lifted almost of its' own accord and she found herself giving an open backhand slap to Rekar's face.

He felt a flash of pain, but it was not the worse blow he had ever had. His smirking face was looking back up at hers. "You see, I am a true_ Rihannsu_," he taunted. "Your hatred of my wife? Immaterial. It is simply a manifestation of the hatred you feel for your own mother and in turn yourself."

Sela roundhouse kicked him out of his chair, feeling nothing but rage. Rekar, though, only laughed at her as he lay sprawled out on the floor of the interrogation chamber.

Her communicator went off, just then. "I'll be back," she hissed threateningly.

"But of course!" he said to her retreating back as he picked himself up off of the floor and retook his position in the lone chair.

##

They did not know what happened with the team dispatched to Deep Space 9. They had made it onto the station, for a certainty, since they had sent back a communiqué as soon as they'd landed. But they had missed their checkpoint call-in after that.

No matter. The moment Rekar sent out his foolish message, another team in a cloaked ship was already en-route illegally on the Federation side of the galaxy. And they had received word of where that message was received.

After racing for the place at top speed, they were now in orbit around Deklut IV, a barren hunk of rock. Fortunately, it wasn't too close to any known parts of any Federation planets, colonies or outposts.

The Tal'Shiar warbird decloaked as soon as they were directly over the position of where the message had been received. A team of four immediately beamed down. As soon as they rematerialized it was obvious that whoever had been there was long gone. The only thing left was what looked like some form of sharp edged eating utensil. As the team approached it, they saw that it had been driven into the earth and was sticking straight up out of the ground. A piece of cloth or sheet of fabric was pinned by it into the earth.

One of the agents stooped, carefully scanned it with his sensor equipment. It contained no traps, but still he did not touch it. There was something there on the paper, he could see. He leaned over and could see it a little more clearly. Was that a drawn picture? He indeed did see a hand-drawn picture!

An almost primitive looking plain circle of a face with two round dots for eyes, one round dot for a nose and one thin curving line that was supposed to represent a wide smile. There were words written underneath it. "What does this say?" the man in charge snapped to the young Centurion who was able to read several Federation languages.

The awkward young man stumbled forward, leaned over and had to hold in a sharp giggle. "'Have a nice day'," he read the neatly written message aloud as he pushed back a wave of hilarity.

"A _**what**_?!" asked his superior, shocked and mystified.

A call came in from their ship waiting overhead. "'_Quest_ to surface team."

"Moridin here," answered the agent in charge.

"We have received a communiqué. The message has been decrypted. She has, apparently, diverted to Vulcan. Transport up at once and we will immediately wait in that star system for her to exit the planet."

"Acknowledged."

The team looked at one another with grim smiles as they got back into position to be transported up to their ship. The cool beam took them away from the barren hunk of rock moon. They knew exactly where to find their prey, now.

##

Jamie Lee awoke to the weak beginnings of the start of daylight. Bits of the day and night before began to trickle back to her piece by piece as her eyes drifted open.

After eating, the ambassador had taken her to her room and activated a built-in air conditioning unit. "This was my mother's room," he informed her as he looked around almost fondly at it. Somewhat of a smirk bloomed on his face. "She, however, barely used it in favor of a room shared with my father."

Jamie Lee was so tired and wrung out by everything that had happened and the dense nutrition coaxed into her by the ambassador, she didn't catch the drift of what he was saying then. But waking up that morning, she finally did get the drift and couldn't help a huge grin starting to spread on her face. Such thoughts inevitably led to memories of Rekar and those thoughts led to worry for her husband. Her smile slowly faded. She forced herself up and out of bed.

She went into the bathroom and got herself together with a refreshing shower and steeled herself for going out into the heat of the day since the rest of the house was not equipped with air conditioning.

Jamie Lee walked out of the cool room and was slapped in the face by heat, even that early in the morning. As she traveled the long hallway she could hear sounds of food preparation in the kitchen. It was the ambassador, she saw, as she rounded the corner. But there was no sign of Julian or Jake.

"You have awakened quite early," said Spock. "I trust you slept well?"

"Yes, actually, I did. Like a log."

"I am quite surprised to see you have already risen this early," he admitted.

"I think maybe my nerves made me get up so soon," she admitted. "I guess I'm eager to get everything done." She also realized then that there was a clear and definite route and course of action in her mind that hadn't been there the day before. Obviously that meld had done its' job. There were still parts that were murky to her, but she suspected that as time went on, it would all become clearer, still.

"I have set the oven to the proper temperature and have only just left the souffle to bake."

Her mouth was already watering despite the mounting heat of the day.

"Jamie Lee, follow me. I must hand over the blade to you now."

She followed Spock into the back of the house in the wing she had stayed in. "I retrieved it last night from the family vault after our meld," he was saying as she walked into a room with him that looked a lot like a library.

He stopped in place. She was standing directly behind him. Jamie found herself craning her neck to look around him almost shyly at the item as if it were a stranger she was about to meet for the first time. And there it sat, mounted on a horizontal sword stand.

She was dumbfounded. She had certainly expected a blade. But when she heard the word 'blade', though, she thought 'knife, dagger, small sword' perhaps even 'short sword'? But this thing, it was shaped almost like a katana, but longer. It was almost the full length of a long sword.

"You may approach it," Spock whispered behind him at her with that amused look on his face.

She carefully stepped out from behind him. "I feel like this is a blind date or something," she almost whispered, eyes locked on the blade in front of her.

She approached the sword. It was encased in a copper colored scabbard and its handle was made of an almost copper-like material. The cord wrapping around the handle looked to be a deep dark green, the color of Romulan blood. A hush was on the room as Jamie Lee cautiously walked closer to it.

There was an insignia on the scabbard. She recognized it. She held her bracelet up next to it, confirmed that it did contain one of the same markings. Feeling a thrill run through her blood and up her back, she involuntarily found herself shiver as she reached out one tentative hand. She looked back at Spock once for reassurance.

"You must view at least half of the sword before taking possession of it. It belongs not only to Rekar, it now belongs to your son."

She turned back around and looked at it again, wrapped her hand over and around the top of the handle and the other along the underside of the scabbard. From what she could remember of her medieval weapons class, she knew not to completely withdraw the sword from the scabbard unless she meant to give it the satisfaction of blood. She didn't know if that same rule applied to this sword, but she very carefully lifted it from its stand, held it almost close and pulled it only partway out of the scabbard.

A gleam of light caught the ridge of the blade and all the way down the front side she could see finely etched writing, almost the same in long form that was on her bracelet from Rekar, but it was not exact in its copy. Some things, here and there, were different. She could feel a large swell of emotion building in her stomach. Information was coming to her that she could not possibly have on her own. Who was it from? Spock or Rekar? "The scabbard is not as old as the sword," she found herself saying.

"You have perhaps deduced that from the different style of markings on it and the sword? Very logical and very true."

She didn't know if his giving her credit was right since she didn't know how it was she knew what it was she knew. "How old is this blade?" she whispered as she stared at it. Was it possible to feel love for a thing? Was she falling in love with this sword?

"It is quite old. Judging from the writing style, it could be as old as one thousand six hundred years old."

She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears as she stared at it, stared at the writing and realized, "Is that why it isn't the same script as what's on my bracelet?"

"It is close to Ancient High Vulcan, but not exactly like it. To put it in proper terms, it is simultaneously post-Vulcan and Proto-Romulan. To borrow a phrase, it is a true legacy of that time and space between one language and another."

A true sucker for history, she found herself welling up with tears. "Damn pregnancy hormones," she muttered as one tear slid down her cheek.

"It is now time, young lady, for you to take the sword and put it on," he encouraged.

She lifted it more fully to try and heft it into place on her person. It had a satisfying weight, heavier than she expected. She knew that over time she would get used to the feel of it at her side but that she had better not wear it too long or it would affect the way she walked and throw her back out of whack. When she went to fasten it at her hip in the holster that came with it, the problem presented itself immediately. She had barely taken four steps and the thing practically dragged along the ground. It was much too long for her almost five foot frame. She looked back over at Spock with a mirthful expression and an involuntary giggle escaped her as she saw the openly stumped look on his face.

After a short pause, he finally said, "Perhaps it would do better affixed to your back."

##

Someone, Rekar didn't know who, had found out where he was being kept and he had been moved from the interrogation room. He knew what that meant. Someone over Sela protested her treatment of him. Perhaps they felt his treatment was truly wrong or perhaps it was as simple as them trying to save face just in case the sword _did_ reach them in time. It didn't matter.

What did matter, as his eyes snapped open, was: What was that feeling he was experiencing? That sensation? He closed his eyes, tried to reach outside himself. It was becoming easier now to do it.

"Jamie Lee," he whispered. He didn't know how he knew, but she had found the sword.

##

The three of them were at the gate of his home, once again, but this time on their way out. "I will return your runabout to Deep Space 9," Spock was assuring them. "I have gotten passage for you on the USS T'Kumbra. They will bring you to the rendezvous point I have given you, Jamie Lee, and you will be handed over to a friend that will get you into the Empire in, might I say, record time."

"Thank you, once again for all of your help," Julian said to the ambassador.

Spock honestly said, "Your giving me thanks, in this situation, is truly unnecessary." His eyes turned back to Jamie Lee. "I am tied to this tale in more way than one, am I not?"

Jamie Lee nodded solemnly. She admitted, "I don't know how, but I will try my best to right that wrong somehow." Jake and Julian looked confused, not understanding what they were speaking about.

Spock went on anyhow. "Justice, as you say?" he asked. "I do not know how that could be possible under the circumstances, but I suppose when a human woman is determined, she shall find a way."

"There's always a way, Ambassador," she said.

"To you I am simply 'Spock'," he corrected with a slight nod. "We shall meet again, I suspect, kinswoman. And remember, I have given you the proper protocols for your situation. Remember to trust the instincts as they come and do not fight them. Some of the qualities may be a bit—alarming," he admitted.

She paused, a little nervous then. "Alarming?"

"A bit of your personality for a short time may be altered, particularly when you stand before the Romulan Senate."

Her eyes widened and inside her head she was screaming _**The Romulan SENATE?!**_ "You never said _anything_ about-"

"It is the place where records of honor, or lack thereof, are doled out or expunged. You must be the bringer of honor back to Rekar's father's house for his sake now and for the sake of your son. And that is the technicality you must carry to them. You can speak on the floor as his wife and carrier of the sword- amongst other things," he said as he pointedly looked down at her still flat midsection.

"Hmm," was her only answer. She was trying not to, but she was now looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

Jake saw her giving Spock the side-eye. "What are you _doing_?" the young man hissed at his cousin, alarmed at her behavior.

Spock, however, was strangely warmed by it. He knew it meant she was now comfortable enough to behave as herself around him. He was no longer simply 'the ambassador' in her mind. "I have friends in the Romulan world and apparently, so do you. Do not forget that, Jamie Lee. You shall be well. Never remove the sword from your back until you are on the floor of the Senate. Hand it over to no one but the Praetor himself. No one will remove it from you, either."

But she was nervous all over again.

"It does not matter who or what you are," Spock reassured her. "Your right to carry it will not be protested. No Romulan will take an honor blade off of a rightful wearer, and that is a fact. They do not generally respect the ways of others, but they do respect and hold highly the things of their own. You must be the one to voluntarily hand it over and only to the Praetor after what must be done in the Senate."

She nodded, resigned. "All right."

"Let's go then," said Jake.

##

The ride on the T'Kumbra took just less than a day. They were not beamed up with the rest of the returning crew, but they rode in the cargo hold since they had to hide their presence from others. Captain Solok at one point came down to see them.

"Young Jake Sisko," said the captain with a nod. "It is well to see you again."

"Captain," he boy greeted. "This is Jamie Lee, my cousin."

He bowed slightly at her and then greeted, "Julian Bashir, you are well, I trust?"

Julian wanted to laugh out loud at Solok's newly formed small talk skills. Who had been tutoring him?

"Your ride here in the cargo bay should not be long," he assured them. "We will rendezvous soon with the other vessel."

"Thank you," said Jamie Lee.

On his way out, Solok turned and looked back at Jake once. "I am sorry about your father," was all he was able to say. There was true sincerity in his cool blue eyes.

As he left and the door closed, Jake muttered, "Yeah, me, too." He felt Jamie Lee's hand in his and he looked down at her reassuring smile and couldn't help but to smile in return.

##

Just as the USS T'Kumbra left Vulcan's orbit, a cloaked Romulan warbird was establishing a secret orbit around said planet.

The bridge of the Tal'Shiar ship went into High Alert, however, when they detected a sensor sweep of them. "How are we being detected?" barked the Commander.

"We don't know," said the officer stationed at the joint Sensor/Communications station. "But we are being hailed and asked to answer immediately."

"By Vulcan High Command?" sneered the Commander.

"No," said the communications officer as his eyes widened. "It is the V'Shar."

None of them understood how it happened, but the next thing they knew, their still cloaked ship had it's viewscreen externally activated. A grim-faced V'Shar agent was onscreen then. He looked to be quite advanced in years and his no-nonsense expression was one that they would never forget. "Why have you broached our planetary space without advance request?"

The Commander smiled. "We received a tip that something and someone that belonged to the Romulan Empire was on your shores. We decided to come and enquire."

"You have yet to decloak," said the old Vulcan with absolutely no expression on his face. "How did you think to accomplish your task without enquiring with our authorities first?"

"How did you access our viewscreen without our permission and though we remain cloaked?"

"You are the one in an illegal orbit," said the V'Shar agent. "You are thus warned, we have a fraction of our planetary weapons trained on your vessel. Simply answer my questions without posing your own or you may leave at this time, unharmed, but also not in possession of whatever it is you seek."

The Commander maintained his fraud. "We assure you, we understand the need to target us. We shall lower our cloak at this time as a gesture of good faith and answer any and all questions you may have."

"Then we shall parlay with you about whomever and whatever you have come to enquire about," said the old man.

##

The T'Kumbra rendezvoused with a Romulan ship almost the next day just as the warbird in orbit around Vulcan realized they had just missed their prey… and the blade!

The party of three left the Vulcan ship and transported onto the Romulan ship.

But Jamie Lee didn't expect to see the guests she ran into as soon as the three of them materialized. She saw the grin of two human women—

"Bea! Comfort!" she could barely get out as tears sprang to her eyes. "Oh my goodness!" She realized then that Letant and Koval were standing at the back of the transporter room just as she engaged in a group hug with the other ladies.

They fell into conversation as Jamie Lee pointed down at Bea's stomach, "You're already showing! Oh wow!"

"I know, it's crazy!" she answered, "But it's like that with each kid, you show sooner and sooner, so they say! At least it's just one baby this time."

"Same here," said Jamie Lee casually.

Both Bea and Comfort's eyes bugged. "Already?" Comfort shouted.

"Oh God, I'm hungry all the time!" Jamie Lee said.

"Me, too!" Bea agreed. "Let's go eat right now!"

"Oh, food!" Jamie Lee agreed.

"Ladies!" Julian called after them. "Don't we need to know where we're staying first?"

"Oh, that's right," Jamie Lee said, surprised at how quickly she forgot about her two companions. "Guys, this is-"

Bea already knew them. "Jake and Julian! I haven't seen you two in a while."

"Nice to see you again," Jake nodded at Bea.

"I'm Comfort," said the redhead as she reached out a hand to both men.

"Dr. Julian Bashir," he said charmingly, emphasis on 'doctor'.

Jake rolled his eyes at Julian, then faced Comfort and said politely, "I'm Jake, Jamie Lee's cousin."

Letant stepped forward then, "It's good to see you again, Jamie Lee. Rekar, I hear, is in a bit of trouble."

She only nodded once, worry on her face. "He is."

Koval added, "Do not worry on that count, dear lady, I made a few calls and he will keep until we arrive."

"Thank you, Mr. Koval."

She noticed the two men plus every Romulan in the room was halfway staring at the sword on her back. She looked at Letant and Koval cautiously, but no one said a word about it. The sword, apparently, was the elephant in the room.

"Come this way, I can show you all where you're staying," said Comfort. She looked at Bea, "You've been up long enough, I think. It's time to get off your feet."

"Whatever, _mom_," said Bea sarcastically.

"Perhaps she is right," Julian said with concern on his face. "But you never did listen, did you?"

"No, she never does," Letant agreed.

"All right, fine! I'll go sit down for now, sheesh, you people!" She smiled before she left the transporter room. "But come to my quarters to eat as soon as you're settled in!" she said to Jamie Lee.

"I'll be there in ten minutes!" she promised.

"After you settle in," Julian reprimanded her. "You need a scan, first."

"But I'm hungry!"

"It will take a mere five minutes after you've seen your room and settled in," he promised.

"Let's go," said Comfort. "I'll show you to your rooms now."

After they left, Letant and Koval looked at one another. "Did you see that sword?" Koval finally asked.

"Did you see she won't take it off?" Letant noted.

Koval agreed. "She might know what she's doing."

"She also might not," said Letant. "I'm assigning two guards to her at all times while Rekar is in his questionable status. She is my guest and no one is to touch her."

##

Bea happily answered the chime of her ship door. She was glad for the down time since her triplets were in a separate room being tutored for school. Her youngest boy had begun to insist that he wanted to go, too, so she started letting him the month before.

The door opened and Comfort and Jamie Lee were standing on the other side along with Jake. "Jake, you don't have to stay with me!" Jamie Lee was saying.

"And I think I should," he insisted.

"Jake," said Bea with a straight face, "do you really want to hear a conversation about the best toenail polishes for pedicures, jewelry and maternity fashions?"

"I'm outta here!" he declared as he turned and left.

The three girls laughed hard as the two remaining guests walked into Bea's room. She had put out a spread of Latin foods and Jamie Lee went straight for the sweet plantains and began to eat one immediately.

"Hungry, much?" laughed Bea.

##

Rekar was being moved, yet again. Sela didn't look too happy about it, either. He had been in the same place for days and access to him had been denied her since she'd roundhouse kicked him out of his chair.

Ever since getting the instinct that his wife had indeed found the blade, he hadn't had another feeling about her, since. He hoped she was doing well and had not been caught by Sela's men.

He was given access to shower facilities and a brand new uniform. Something, big, he knew, must be happening. Vreenak walked in then with a half grin on his face as Rekar finished fastening his uniform in place. "You aren't retired yet, old man," he quipped.

Rekar grinned at him. "Vreenak. I didn't expect to see you at all."

"My wife told me what was going on," he said.

Rekar never believed the tall tale about human women seeming to communicate in the strangest of ways, but he was starting to wonder if it were true. As far as he knew, Vreenak's wife and his wife had never even met! "How did your wife get word about _me_?"

"Apparently," said Vreenak, "Jamie Lee told Spock and Spock told her sister Jacinda and Jacinda called Koval's wife, Comfort and Comfort told Letant's wife, Bea, and Bea of course told Letant and Letant picked Jamie Lee up and at the same time Bea was telling Jan and Jan is my wife so of course she told me."

Rekar couldn't help the laughter bubbling up out of him. He remembered his opinion of human women and their ways, but he never knew he would be liberated by both. "Sela was outsmarted by human female _gossip_?"

"Amongst other things," Vreenak smiled. "The Senate awaits," he said with one outstretched hand.


	32. Precedent and Technicality

_A/N - Sorry it took so long to get this up. Real life intervened big-time. This chapter is not as long as the last one, but it's still long._

* * *

Fifteen minutes before having to beam down, Bea and Comfort went to check up on Jamie Lee.

She was wearing black trousers, a crème colored close-fitted top that peeked out from under a dark tan colored wrap style shirt with a black kimono wrap style jacket on the outermost layer and black boots. The sword was, once again, strapped to her back and her hair had been tied up into a ponytail, braided and pinned out of the way. "It's not my personal best, but do I look descent at least?"

"Definitely," Comfort nodded happily. "You look like a female samurai!"

"Did they have those?" asked Jamie Lee. "I'll look that up later, I guess."

"Let's go. We can walk you to the transporter room, but we can't come to the Senate chambers with you. Fortunately, we get to have a tie-in right here on the ship. And boy am I glad! I've got to see this unfold," Bea grinned.

"You're making me even more nervous!" Jamie Lee said. But her own grin was beginning to form since she knew she might be able to see Rekar again sooner rather than later.

##

Right before beaming down, Julian stood in the transporter room giving her a quick scan. "I find it amazing that we haven't had to make one more genetic adjustment to this child since we left Deep Space 9."

"The little potato head is doing great," Jake said with a grin as he stood off to the side.

"If you call my baby a potato head one more time-" she said as she didn't even finish the sentence. She instead started to rapidly smack Jake's arm with both of her hands.

He did a pretend cower and looked over at Bea and Comfort. "Ladies? Can't you two see I'm being abused here!" he complained.

"Oh, Jamie Lee," Comfort said a little too casually with a little wave off gesture, "stop beating that boy up. He just wants the baby to have a head shaped just like his."

Jake's mouth dropped open at the successful verbal sneak-attack as everyone else around him began to laugh.

##

Jamie Lee's jittery nerves were making her want to hurl, but she was able to hold it together as she beamed down to the surface along with the two guards assigned to her. Koval and Letant came, as well, and she began to sort of understand the saying 'safety in numbers'.

As soon as they materialized, something within her mind changed. She felt an instant influx of personal superiority. She realized with internal mirth that this was nothing more than Spock's tampering for the time being.

She looked around and saw that there were Romulans as far as the eye could see. They were on the steps of the senate and here and there were members of the senate, their personal aides, aides of aides and their sycophants all crowded around outside. Everyone was just beginning to enter the doors for the beginning of that day's session.

Some heads began to turn at the sight of her. Some part of her forced her to not look down and away. She looked them all in the eye, one by one, even playing the stare-down game with a few. It was sort of an amusement for her to realize that for some reason, she made them nervous. What? Her? A little human woman?

That part of her that had been ingrained with how to behave had her put her posture in order, throw her shoulders back and almost just put her nose in the air as she strode past everyone. Between her guards, having Koval and Letant accompany her, and the fact that they were moving quite quickly, the crowd practically parted down the middle to let her through. She realized then what it really was that made them part. They saw the hilt of the blade on her back. She could just mentally picture their eyes widening as they saw the back of her walking by with it on her back.

"Was that what I think it was?" one aide whispered to another.

"That's an Honor Blade," they answered.

"Is there to be an Honor hearing today?" asked a Senator of his aide, immediately curious.

As the aide pulled out the schedule, another Senator, female this time, asked, "Why is a human in possession of an Honor Blade?"

And the whispers went on.

"Is it not illegal for a human to be in possession of such a thing and on the grounds of the Senate? I hope she does not think she will be allowed to speak! It simply isn't done! No, it will never happen."

"What is Letant up to now?"

"There had better be a legitimate reason for this otherwise the Praetor will have his head!"

"Letant's head being removed? I'd pay to watch that!"

The way the little human female strode up the steps and straight into the Senate, face and shoulders set, no smile in sight, sword on her back, there was no mistaking that whatever was going on, she meant business. She had not said one word and already half the Senators already held a grudging respect for whoever she was. They figured most humans in her position, whatever that position happened to be, would be in fear surrounded by so many Romulans. Not only did it not seem to bother her, she seemed as if she found herself to be better than they! Of all the nerve!

Some of the males found themselves with silly grins on their faces wondering who she happened to be on a personal level. One thing most Romulans respected was a slight air of conceit. And she was wearing the implanted sense of self like an expensive garment.

"Who is_ she_?" whispered one of the older senators as Jamie Lee walked straight into the chamber.

"I don't know, but I think we're about to find out."

"Stay here with Koval and your guards," Letant said to her and then left for the front of the senate chambers. Jamie Lee nodded at him only once in answer and then stood off to the very side of the doorway so that others could enter. She set her feet in a 'yeah and so what?' stance with her arms folded and stared straight ahead, waiting for word on what to do next.

At that point, the senators and their aides crowded into the room. The aides themselves delivered whatever items, schedules or PADDs they needed to and then they all gave her one last look before having to depart. They looked as if they really wanted to stick around and find out what was going on.

The Senate was called to order and the doors of the chamber were shut. All of the senators took their seats and then the Praetor himself strolled in and took his seat.

Before Letant could get a word out, Sela herself strode quickly into the chamber after bursting through the door. On herway in, she saw Jamie Lee standing there and gave her a cutting look. They were close enough that Jamie Lee looked her up and down in return and then scoffed at her. The human then dismissed her presence by pointedly looking away.

Heated now, Sela finished charging onto the Senate floor. "I protest these proceedings!" she declared angrily.

The Praetor smirked. It was not the first time Sela had found herself in the house of the Senate protesting something that had yet to officially start. What was she attempting to cover up now, he wondered? "These proceedings have yet to begin," he declared. "To what do we owe this honor?" he asked. Everyone around him knew that he was not amused and he wanted her gone until whatever the matter was surrounding her had its turn. He looked past Sela, then, and saw a human female standing at the back of the senate. Did his eyesight deceive him or was that a Blade strapped to that human's back? He realized then, _that's_ what this was about. But the human female had not moved from her place. She remained affixed to the spot, arms folded, as if she were there to accomplish something and was not going to leave until she saw it done. This intrigued him.

Sela continued, not at all oblivious to the fact that she was annoying the Praetor. She almost didn't care in her desperation to halt the proceedings. "I am here to stop this charade, this masquerade!"

He sighed tiredly. She was interesting enough at one time, but now he found her to be quite tiresome. "At this time, the floor does not recognize this matter," he declared. "You shall wait your turn like everyone else, agent."

She knew when to give up, at least. Sela turned and took one last look at Jamie Lee. The human female had the nerve to turn her face and look away, her lips set in a hard purse! Sela walked off of the floor. She knew this girl was most likely young and inexperienced and most of all she did not understand the protocols of the senate chamber. She figured she would sink herself there, at least, so the blonde agent stood aside and smirked, waiting for gauche human manners when it was their turn to proceed on this matter.

Letant stood then and began, "I respectfully ask for the right of Jamie Lee Sisko, wife of Rekar, recently retired from the military but still on the roles of the Tal'Shiar-"

"Objection!" Sela said as she walked forward. "Rekar has formally retired and is therefore no longer a member-"

"One more word out of turn by you and I shall have you barred from these chambers!" the Praetor said, much more sternly now to Sela. He turned his attention back to Letant, "Continue, senator."

"Rekar did in fact formally submit his resignation to the Tal'Shiar. However, that resignation has not yet been granted according to this signed and sworn to affidavit submitted to me by Vreenak, Chairman of the Tal'Shiar."

"Is Chairman Vreenak present?" asked the Praetor.

"I am," said Vreenak as he stood up from the guest gallery.

"Noted," said the Praetor and then Vreenak sat back down. "Since this is, it appears, a matter of honor, this shall be attended to sometime today." He looked back at the little human female, waiting, not speaking, watching attentively. "And you, I presume, are this Jamie Lee Sisko, wife of Rekar?"

Koval elbowed her in the side and she pushed herself to project an answer. But her voice didn't come out the way it normally would have. She answered with a sureness of manner, "I am she, your Grace."

The Praetor nodded once at the serious expression on her face. "You are acknowledged by me and this senate at this time as Lady t'Velal and are welcomed to take a seat for the time being."

Jamie Lee nodded with a slight bow to him and then walked where she was ushered to by Koval. She found herself sitting wedged between Koval and Vreenak. It hadn't occurred to her until then that Spock had truly meant it when he said they both had friends in the Romulan world. She turned and saw the angry face of Sela staring her down. Instead of playing her game, however, Jamie Lee completely threw her off by smiling jovially at the woman and winking. Sela, confused and incensed, turned and sat on the other side of the Senate in the second guest gallery until the proper time came.

##

Four hours passed while they discussed various points of business. Jamie Lee's stomach was beginning to protest loudly at the lack of food and she actually started to feel slightly faint. Just when she thought she couldn't take one more minute, recess was called.

They all spilled out of the Senate and she was beamed directly up to the ship. She ate quickly with everyone and wondered when it was she would see Rekar.

As soon as she was beamed down again, they retook their seats in the guest gallery. The very thing she was wondering about came to fulfillment as Rekar himself was led in by two guards. Her heart soared at the look of him. She could see him searching the reassembling crowd for her and their eyes met and locked together.

A feeling, something along the lines of deep warmth and heightened awareness, began to cover them both, spread down their bodies form their heads to their toes. They were still so far away from one another, but as their eyes continued to hold one another, gooseflesh broke out on Jamie Lee's arms. She wanted to go to him but knew she could not. And then her eyes widened as she heard his voice in her mind asking: _The baby is well?_

She gasped involuntarily and both Koval and Vreenak looked at her, askance. "Are you unwell, Lady t'Velal?" asked Koval.

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "It's been an adventurous day, that's all."

"We agree," Koval smiled as the proceedings came to order yet again. "It's about to get even more adventurous," he whispered.

The Praetor came in and Jamie Lee saw him scanning the crowd. "Session is called to order," said an orator near the Preator's chair. "Lady t'Velal is called to speak at this time."

Jamie Lee stood quickly to move down the corridor and take the floor, but Sela was already on the floor. "I object to this entire proceeding! To have this human here on the floor of the Senate is unprecedented."

Jamie Lee continued to walk to the floor almost casually, waiting for the Praetor to say whatever he would. She kept her mouth shut for the time being and simply watched carefully as she stayed just off of the floor of the senate.

The Praetor looked at her yet again. "Lady t'Velal, you have heard Sela's words. Have you nothing to say to them?"

She smirked, "I suppose I shall have to set a new precedent this day."

"You may take the floor, young lady," he said with the beginnings of more than curiosity for what was going to come out of this human's mouth next.

Jamie Lee looked over at Sela and saw that the other woman would not move from her place on the floor. "I will share the floor with no one," the human woman found herself saying audaciously as she continued looking straight at Sela.

"And who are you to say as such?" Sela charged in return.

Jamie Lee looked over at the Praetor. "Am I not a citizen via marriage to my husband?"

His brown eyes warmed over as he found his lips lifting in a smile. Precious little made him smile. How far would this young lady go for her husband? "Sela," he said as his eyes remained locked with the little human's. "You will leave the floor and allow the citizen to speak."

Fuming, Sela said not one more word and walked off of the floor of the Senate.

Jamie Lee then took the floor and she looked down, saw it was a ground mural of the Romulan Star Empire behind a wave of blue that was apparently the Neutral Zone. She felt a tremor of nerves assault her for a second and then something embedded within her swept them aside, compelled her to speak. "I carry the sword of the House of my husband's father on my person at this time. I formally and respectfully ask his Grace, Highest Commander in Chief of the Star Empire to restore that which my husband has earned through his long years of service to the Empire in both the military and the Tal Shiar."

The Praetor had to wonder, who had coached this girl? It was impossible that she understood all of this on her own. He looked over at Rekar and saw the man's eyes were practically devouring every word and movement of his wife. "And this man is yours?" he said as he held one hand out to indicate Commander Rekar. "You acknowledge him as such in this public place?"

Her eyes turned to his and they warmed over. "He is my husband, yes."

The Praetor turned and looked at Rekar, "And this woman?"

"She is mine," Rekar spoke. "Mine fully in every way."

The Praetor was turning slightly uncomfortable because the two were now looking at one another a little too much. He realized then that they had not seen one another in some time.

"I object!" Sela stood yet again. "What is her legal right to carry that sword here? Only those with Romulan blood may hold an Honor Blade on their person while standing on the floor of the Senatorial chambers!"

The Praetor looked at Jamie Lee. "Lady t'Velal. What say you to that? It is the law, you must be aware, that within your body must be Romulan blood to carry the sword into these chambers."

Jamie Lee looked back at the Praetor with a slightly humorous expression. "I carry within my body Romulan blood via Rekar's child growing in my womb."

"That is nothing more than a loophole!" Sela shouted as the sea of people in the round gallery began to mumble and talk amongst themselves.

Jamie Lee smirked. "Am I or am I not in possession of a Romulan baby in my womb? Either I am or I am not."

The Praetor's eyes squinted in near admiration. He turned and looked at the door attendant. "Fetch my physician to scan Lady t'Velal. In the meantime, the clerk will find and read the applicable section of law."

Rekar looked intensely nervous as he stood off to the side. He was still not allowed to go to his wife or say a word in the chambers without the praetor's approval. He could give her no aid, but it seemed she knew what she was doing. He also wondered how she knew what she was supposed to do here?

Once the law was read in a language so old, the universal translator couldn't fully render it in clear modern language, the court physician was walking into the chambers. For some reason then, Sela looked plain panicked. "There is no reason for this witness to be examined by a physician! The law did not mean this situation! And besides, who knows what trickery has been pulled off within this human to fake a pregnancy!"

Jamie Lee found herself becoming heated then. "I object to _that_! If you had to eat as much as I have to every day in order to nourish this child, you'd know this is quite real!"

The Praetor's eyes squinted. "Scan her," he said to the physician. He looked over at Sela. "Say not one more word while my physician works!"

Jamie Lee looked at the physician coming toward her. He was an almost youngish man with eager eyes that held hers carefully. "If you would allow?" he almost whispered.

She wondered how one with such quiet ways had advanced so far in this world. "You may," she said to him in a low tone so as not to scare him off.

He halfway smiled and took out a medical scanner, ran it over her midsection for a mere ten seconds. "Confirmed," he said as he turned and looked at the Praetor. "Yet, I must say, my lord, do not allow this woman to undergo too much stress. Pregnancies such as these must have quiet and much convalescence."

"I have had occasion to read the notes provided me by Senator Letant. You should be resting and have quiet, yet you have been on the run, have you not?" asked the Praetor.

"I have," said Jamie Lee with no sign of self-pity.

"Why did you do so?" he asked.

"Who is my child in this empire without his father or his father's honor? Without the honor of his grandfather's house? I have come here this day to ask to have it be restored by you in full view of the Senate. I have brought the Honor Blade to present to you, your Grace. If you would view it, give my husband and my son what it is they need? Re-bestow the proper family name? It is in your power and you are the only one who can do this. I ask that this be granted."

He sighed. "The chair recognizes this woman's right to speak on the technicality that she carries the sword and Romulan blood within her at this time."

Sela, of course, shouted, "I obje-"

But she never made it that far. "One word more!" the Praetor raised his voice. Everyone in the senate simply sat and watched her, waiting to see if she would take the cue. This man barely, if ever, raised his voice. And now he had because of her.

She simply sat down in her seat, knowing that things were most likely done here.

The Praetor turned back to Jamie Lee. "Approach, Lady t'Velal, slowly. Present the Blade for my inspection."

As Jamie Lee walked in his direction, she could see an almost transparent shield covering the Praetor's position. She was familiar with this type of shielding. It was designed to repel all forms of attack, but you couldn't see it until you were practically standing on top of it.

She got down on one knee and balanced one arm on the other knee as she gracefully removed the sword from her back, scabbard and all. She went to present it to him by holding it out to him in the flats of both her hands.

"No, my lady," the Praetor said softly, "you are allowed to truly present it."

Some piece of information clicked into place and Jamie Lee found herself taking a kerchief from her pocket and folding it, putting it on the floor in front of her. She then fully withdrew the blade from the scabbard. She ran the sharp side of it carefully over her palm and bled onto the kerchief while her eyes held the Praetor's. "'For the honor of my husband and my son, I give a gift to my Praetor'." Something deep within forced her not to show the pain, not to blanch of wince or cry out. She was a tough girl, but not this tough! She wanted to thank Spock personally someday for this full set of most likely temporary skills.

There were whispers in the chamber behind her as she lifted the kerchief she had bled upon, cleaned the blade with a clean part of it and then handed the blade slowly to the Praetor. He took it from her hands, a small smile upon his face. He took the kerchief from her then and said to his clerk, "Take this. Place it in the Vaults of Loyalty."

He then turned and looked at Rekar. "I have read your case and I know it well now. Your mother, Lady t'Velal, undertook much to make certain this day came for you. And now it has come to fruition. I give you back your name and your Blade, D'Val Rekar tr'Xereth." He looked over at the guard accompanying the former prisoner. "He is free to go."

The Preator looked at Jamie Lee then. "Rise. You are officially Lady t'Xereth."

She stood proudly and watched as Rekar was let out of custody and his sword officially handed to him by the Praetor. He took it from him with a deep bow. "My Lord," he said.

"Go and greet your noble wife."

Rekar didn't need to be told twice. He was in public, so he only walked up to her and felt the quickening of his heart as he received the scabbard of the sword from her. Their eyes met and devoured one another. "My wife," he whispered as he looked down into her face. "Long have I wished for this moment since the last time we parted ways."

"And so have I," she whispered back, wishing they were not in front of an audience of people.

"My lord," the court physician prompted.

"Oh, yes!" the praetor said. "No stress. You two may depart at this time."

##

The two of them walked out of the Senate chambers together, Rekar's honor blade on his hip for the first time in his life. They weren't expecting it, but there was actual press outside the Senate and obtained enough footage between them all as the couple were quickly ushered into a waiting vehicle by the two guards given Jamie Lee earlier.

"Whose flitter is this?" she asked cautiously.

"Mine," he said as the windows blacked out when he pressed a button. Neither the driver nor anyone looking in could see them. He pulled her fully into his arms then and his mouth practically devoured hers. She wanted to ask a million questions, but that quickly she forgot every last one as she found herself pulled into the best make-out session EVER.


	33. Sons of Solkar

_A/N - If Maximus was right in 'Gladiator' and "what we do in life echoes in eternity", then it doesn't matter how much time may pass, centuries even. Justice will find a way... I do truly believe this. And I had to reflect it in my writing. Sorry if there are any errors. I've proofread and rewrote this many times, but life has been HECTIC lately.  
_

* * *

Hours later (after some advanced 'recreation') Rekar and Jamie Lee beamed up to the ship that had brought Jamie Lee into Romulan territory because he, among other things, felt compelled to thank a few people in person.

"I want to thank you two for making certain Jamie Lee was looked after. I also wanted to thank you, doctor, for keeping an eye on my developing son."

Julian shook his head as he scanned Jamie Lee's midsection. "No problem at all. Anything for a patient… or two," he turned his clever smile on Jamie Lee and she grinned in return for a second.

She turned then and saw that her cousin was having some trouble. Jake's eyes held hers as tears started to form. He wouldn't let them fall, though. He fought them back fiercely and then was finally able to strain out the words, "I guess this is it."

She had been so strong up until then but her face crumbled at the sadness in his eyes. "Ah, Jake, don't look at me like that." Tears were starting to stream down her face, unashamedly. The stress of everything came to the surface. She was bawling as she hugged his thin frame.

"I'm just-" Jake's words faltered. "I'm tired of saying good-bye to people in my family, that's all." He shook his head as he hugged her back. "Don't listen to me. That's life. That's what people do. They say 'good-bye'." He squeezed her reassuringly. "It's okay. I'll be okay."

"It's perfectly fine for you to remain here, Jake," Rekar felt the need to say. "And you must understand that you are welcomed here on Romulus anytime you wish to come. I know there are most likely several articles you would no doubt enjoy writing from right here, in the Empire. And since my empire seems determined to forge a friendship with the Federation, who better to write those articles than you?"

Jake's face changed then and he found himself smiling widely. "Really? I mean, I have to go home right now, but I can come back soon! I wouldn't want to miss meeting the little potato head when he's born."

Jamie Lee laughed through her tears. "According to Comfort, you're the original potato head!"

He shook his head, "Haha, whatever. I'll be back in a couple of months to help you out, okay? I know you're going to need it. I have it on good authority that you're going to be HUGE."

"Do you _like_ your kidneys?" she asked halfway serious.

"Now that's the Jamie Lee we all know and love," Julian smiled as he put his medical tri-corder away.

##

Before the ship left for Federation space again, Rekar and Jamie Lee had everyone over to their home in order to celebrate. "This place is kind of massive," she said to her husband as they looked at the social fracas before them.

Bea was sitting comfortably in an overstuffed chair, pillows stuffed all around to support her aching back as she watched her four children just outside, running on the lawn, playing. Comfort sat right next to Bea as the two laughed about something or other.

Jake was gasping and coughing because Koval and Vreenak thought it was a good idea to give him a glass of kali-fal. "It's a man's drink," Koval was saying as Jake tried to clear his breathing. "It will make you stronger!"

Vreenak added, "I do believe you human males claim it will make hair sprout on your chests."

Julian was engrossed in conversation with Letant on the human woman's nutritional needs while pregnant, in general.

Jamie Lee found herself grinning uncontrollably. Her happiness was dimmed for one reason. "There's only one person missing in all of this."

Rekar frowned. "Your sister?"

She smiled. "Well I guess yes and no. I meant Spock."

"What of the ambassador? You never told me of your time with him."

"Let's just say he's the reason I didn't make a complete fool of myself in the Senate chambers. That was all him."

He looked over at Jamie Lee and realized, "There is more to this, isn't there? What tale must be told to me now? I suspect the former court physician had only so much of the story. Do you now contain the rest, mywife?"

She admitted, "Yes, I do have the rest of the story. And depending on your point of view, it's not a nice one. It's a story about your maternal grandfather. But that story is for tomorrow. Let's enjoy our guests today."

He looked out at their guests. In the past, he would never have opened his home to so many people. Jamie Lee had seemingly forced his life open in more way than one. He was retired now from both the military and the Tal'Shiar. And that made him remember what his new profession entailed. "Who wants chocolate?" he asked as he stood quickly.

##

After Jake and Julian went home, the past was revealed to Rekar. He sat in shock as he listened to how his mother's father came to be in the empire. He realized then that in all of his time at the Tal'Shiar, there were certain documents that he had never been able to access involving his mother's family. And this was obviously one of them. How was it, it never occurred to him to have someone else access them and show it to him? Had he been so compliant with the ways of the state that he'd allowed them to keep him in the dark his whole life? Perhaps he knew, somewhere deep down, that it was something he wasn't prepared to see? It no longer mattered. The truth was out now. At least to him, it was.

Time helped him to almost put it into perspective, but he had the same stinging thought as his wife on the subject. He was more than conflicted. Without that act of kidnap, his mother and therefore he would never have existed. And he would never have had the opportunity to have Jamie Lee grace his life and breathe goodness into it the way that she had. But still, he felt a burning need to make things right.

One month slowly moved into another as Jamie Lee became used to living on Romulus. Since the home was large enough that they only occupied a portion of it at any one time, Rekar gave her free reign to decorate a quarter of the family estate as she saw fit.

Rekar put in to old contacts at the Tal'Shiar, searching for any leads on what they both wanted to know in the meantime. Then one day, when his wife was nearly six months pregnant, they received a call in the middle of the night.

"That information you wanted just came in," said Vreenak.

She had been wiping the sleep out of her eyes, but she was fully awake as Rekar asked, "What have you found?"

Vreenak admitted, "In the words of my wife, 'I have good news and I have bad news'."

##

The next morning, her and Rekar hurriedly got into their chauffeured vehicle and sped off on a three hour drive. "Have you read the file?" Jamie Lee asked Rekar.

"I have," he said, his mouth in a thin line. When he had received the news months before from her of how his mother's family had come to raise a stolen Vulcan boy- it may have been something carried out and considered a success to the old standards of the Empire, but looking at it now, he still found himself conflicted and even a little bit ashamed of what had been done.

It would seem that that bad decision had not rendered things well for the children of that young man, but he at least knew what his mother's outcome had been.

Now he had information that her brother, his uncle, had not only been thrust into disgrace posthumously, but he had left behind a son who was also, as a result, disgraced and stripped of everything, left with nothing. That son had been almost his age, only five years older. They should have been able to grow up together the way that Jamie Lee and Jake had. But the young man with a disgraced family went into the only life available to him. A life of crime.

He did not know much more about the man personally, but what was important to both his wife and himself was that that man had died not a week before. And having died, he had also left behind a son. But that son was so young it was remarkable he had been able to take care of him at all on his own while still carrying out his life of crime. The mother of the young child of his cousin, according to the files, had died during the baby's birth since she hadn't had access to adequate healthcare. They were not aware of who her true family was since from the time of her youth she had been some kind of street urchin left to fend for herself. They only knew that at the time of her death, when the child was born, she was barely twenty years of age.

By the time they arrived all the way in another province at the doors of an orphanage for the children of the disgraced, Jamie Lee and Rekar were both eager to see that the child was well.

The older woman who met them at the door looked shocked to see the two of them. Whether she was shocked at the obviously rich couple, the human wife or both was unimportant to them. They were there for one reason only. "You are here for young Giellun?" she asked.

"We aren't certain yet," said Rekar as he looked around himself cautiously.

Jamie Lee said, "If we could just see him, would that be all right?"

She looked terribly confused. "Most of the nobility never come here. Really, no one comes here. Not for these children."

"Well we're here," said Jamie Lee as she looked past her at the very clean but obviously cash-strapped orphanage. She could see young children running here and there playing some game.

"Come this way, then," said the older Romulan woman.

They entered the establishment and the need for supplies and help became overwhelmingly apparent. The outside of the orphanage looked well enough. But the inside needed extensive repairs, not to mention a fresh coat of paint. The children's clothes looked as if they had been patched and re-patched to within an inch of the life of the fabric. Still, the clothes were clean and the children didn't look as if they were skin and bones. They did look like they could use just a little bit more food, though.

Jamie's heart was breaking. She found herself involuntarily wrapping her arms around her still tiny belly as curious little eyes stared up at her as she walked by.

They came to a room, then, and it contained ten cribs. There were babies of varying ages there, from two months to two years of age. Some of them were lying there, off in their own worlds, past the point of caring already at such a young age. Others, especially the very little ones, were crying or walking back and forth and jumping up and down, playing, oblivious to how miserable they should be.

There was a woman there feeding a child with a bottle that looked to be about six months old. But the woman who had brought them there into the room stopped at a far crib in front of a sleeping child. "This is Geillun," said the nurse. "We only just got him a week ago right after his father died. He can't be more than four months of age. You are his kin?" she asked, yet again.

Rekar pulled out a scanner before he answered. In it was the cross-match of three males: His grandfather whose name was once Stekel, his uncle whose name had been blotted out of history for his disgrace… and Ambassador Spock. They all came from a common male seed and all of them showed up as having DNA in common.

He scanned the child and within five seconds, his face lit up into a smile. "Yes. This child is our kin."

The lady still looked confused. "You'll be leaving money to care for him, then? That happens at times. It isn't out of the ordinary. No one would look upon you as disloyal if you-"

"We'll be taking him with us," Jamie Lee informed her.

She truly looked confused, then. "No one wants these children," she said as if to explain to the little human that she must be mistaken. She looked over at Rekar. "You are truly thinking of taking this child with you?"

"We have a home in mind for him," said Rekar as Jamie Lee crouched down almost on her knees to survey the face of the sleeping infant through the bars of the crib.

The woman nodded. "Whoever has decided to raise him, it is a brave thing to do."

"You are here," said Rekar. "Why would you choose to do such a thing?"

The woman shrugged with a half smile. "I do not believe in blaming children for the actions of forebears. I am not typical of most. I suppose it is mostly because I spent five years in disgrace and only just recovered through the diligence and kindness of another who had evidence to exonerate my parents. It was an—unpleasant experience. But it changed my mind on many things."

Rekar looked at Jamie Lee, though he directed his answer to the woman. "We are taking him off world to a very old colony."

"A very good choice. They will never ask, there."

"No. They will not."

Jamie Lee convinced Rekar to give the orphanage some currency to make repairs and add to the children's diets. He assured her he would do even better than that in future. But for now, there was something that had to be done.

##

Spock stood, once again, just outside of his door, waiting.

Once the shuttle landed, he realized that Jamie Lee had come with her husband Rekar this time. And she was holding something in her arms.

As the couple drew closer, he saw she was holding some_thing_, but some_one_. It was much too soon for her to have delivered her child, he knew. To confirm, he looked downward and saw her expanding belly. She was obviously still pregnant.

"Live long and prosper," Spock greeted. "I trust your journey was well?"

"Yes, Ambassador Spock," Rekar greeted him. "I want to thank you immensely for holding to your promise to my mother all of those years ago."

"She was an honorable woman. I could do no other than ensure her offspring, my kin in fact, had ease of life in whatever way was necessary when the time came."

Jamie Lee stepped to Spock then with a tiny grin. "It's good to see you, again."

He looked down at her. "Likewise, young lady. Your pregnancy progresses well?"

"It does," she answered.

"And who is this young person?" asked Spock as he looked down at the baby.

Jamie Lee found herself just holding back tears as she swallowed past a lump in her throat. "This is Giellun, great-grandson of Stekel. He's disgraced and has nowhere on Romulus where he would be tolerated. I couldn't leave him to that when he could be raised right here on this planet and have a good life, take up where his great-grandfather left off maybe?"

Spock stood there, amazed. For the first time in years, he looked uncertain. "You are sure, he is truly-"

"I already cross checked his DNA," Rekar confirmed. "He is a match for all of the correct people, including, in fact, you."

Spock gently pulled the blanket back and peered into the tiny boy's eyes. He had the strangest sensation in his stomach as he looked down into an almost perfect copy of Sarek's eyes.

The baby was sucking on his thumb and pointer finger contentedly as his eyes held Spock's. The child was obviously healthy and had the tiniest of brow ridges. They were not as pronounced as the average Romulan and it was obvious there was some part of his DNA keeping them in check.

"I didn't know what the procedure was on Vulcan for orphans," said Jamie Lee. She was a little bit nervous since Spock still wasn't speaking as he stood there, staring down at the boy. Maybe he didn't want anything to do with him, after all? Had she been wrong, after all? "I figured I would ask you, who would-"

"He is of my clan. That DNA marker is only present in the sons of Surak. It is correct that he has been returned here to right an old wrong. This is his rightful place."

Jamie Lee could finally tell that Spock did want the child handed over to him, but he was trying not to be rude. She smiled as she handed him over. "Hold him for a minute, will you?"

Spock took him immediately and stared down into the tiny face that was looking curiously at him. "And here we stand, the sons of Solkar, is that not so?" he asked the infant silently. The child stuck his other hand in his mouth then and started to suckle it a little too vigorously. "Let us bring him inside," he said as he continually looked down at the boy. "He is obviously quite hungry."

By the time they left his home later that day they understood exactly what would happen next. Spock would call a meeting of his family council and present what had truly happened to Stekel and present the boy as living evidence. They would add Stekel's name to the archives and put Geillun in as his offspring and the boy would be raised as a Vulcan. Though he was advanced in years, Spock would apparently have much to do with his education and upbringing.

She asked Spock tentatively, at one point, "Is it all right if I come and see him from time to time?"

He held an almost quizzical half smile on his face. "And why would I bar one of his kin from seeing the child?"

She only smiled. "Thanks."

##

Jamie Lee and Rekar went straight to Jacinda's house to pick them up since her sister was itching to visit her on Romulus. Her husband and his parents would accompany them, as well, as had been promised all those months ago.

"Do you know you made the papers on Earth?" her sister asked hours later.

Jamie Lee was confused. "What? Why?"

Her sister pulled out her PADD and pulled up an old link. "Child, I about flipped when I saw this." She turned the screen in her direction. "I can recognize that big backside anywhere. It doesn't matter how much weight you lose, that thing is still there!"

Jamie's eyes widened as she saw the back of her carrying an Honor Blade walking into the Romulan Senate. "Who the hell took that picture?!"

"The press are the same everywhere if you ask me," said Jacinda. "Well they snapped this of you and smuggled it out somehow. You were the talk of the town for _weeks _after that, too, because that picture wasn't the only thing that made it out of the Empire. They kept showing footage of you walking into the Senate chambers with this badass stride for like _weeks_. Every time I saw it, I had to stop myself from cracking up laughing. I saw that serious expression on your face when you were staring down senators and said to myself, 'whatever it is that's going on, she's about to own it. Romulus don't know what hit _them_!'"

Jamie put her face in her hands, embarrassed. She had no idea that that footage even existed or that it would see the light of day in the Federation.

"What happened?" asked Jacinda. "What was that all about? I mean, I know about you being on the run for your life and stuff because Spock called me and I called Bea, but what's the whole story?"

"Do you really want to hear the whole story?"

Jacinda nodded. "Of course I do."

Jamie Lee sighed. "You can't tell anyone, not anyone at all. And it's an old story. It starts over 200 years ago."

She stood and pulled her sister up. "Let's go to the kitchen. I made homemade ice cream because I knew you were coming. Let's get some and you can tell me the whole story then. I'm ready for it."

* * *

_Only one chapter left!  
_


	34. Eight Year Jump

**Eight Years Later- Vulcan**

Jamie Lee and Rekar sat in the audience, still and quiet like all others around them. She was a little bit uncomfortable. This third pregnancy was really giving her some trouble.

The couple watched as Giellun walked out on his own, tall and proper, and met the priestess. He bowed once to her and then faced the girl that his mind was about to be tied to. Though she was Jacinda's daughter, in looks she had come out an almost perfect miniature Vulcan Jamie Lee. Her name was T'Nora and this betrothal almost hadn't happened.

Jamie Lee held in her smile as she thought of Jacinda's horrified feelings when she found out _all_ there was to know about Vulcans. Having no one else to tell, she had of course confided it all to her sister. To put the icing on that cake, Jacinda was adamantly against the betrothal process for children.

But a year before, Jacinda was about to walk into the room and stopped short before walking in on a conversation between the visiting Giellun and her daughter, T'Nora:

_"I go for my kahs wan next week," the young man said to T'Nora, his friend. They often met after school to do homework together._

_ "Yes, you are of the proper age," she answered seriously, her mind preoccupied as she continued to work on an equation._

_ "Would it be permissible to you, if I should survive the test, that perhaps the two of us would be bonded and someday marry?"_

_ T'Nora stopped working and looked at the boy that was a year older than her. "According to law, it is not permitted for me to bond until I am seven years of age. You would have to wait one year until I am old enough."_

_ He seemed to think about that for a few seconds before deciding, "That is agreeable to me. I cannot see becoming bonded to another. It is the reason I ask now."_

_ She sat there at first and didn't speak. "I do not know the reason, but it does not seem correct- you bonding to another," she admitted. "You do not work well with others."_

_ Giellun restrained the desire to balk at her assessment of the situation. But she was correct. The others, already he could tell that their parents merely tolerated his presence. As such, he did not wish to be around them. But she, her parents, her grandparents, they never treated him as such. "Then it is settled. We shall allow the priestess put us together and then marry when we are older."_

_ "Yes, it is agreeable to me." She seemed to stop short, then. "It is not agreeable to my mother."_

_ The two young people sat there, thinking this over for a few seconds. "You have a year to convince her otherwise," was all he was able to come up with._

_ She gave him a half smile as her eyes turned almost cheerful. "Shall we go and speak with your uncle Spock and my father now? He will speak with my aunt Jamie and then she and father will convince mother, I am certain of it."_

_ He stood quickly. "Yes, that is a logical option!"_

Jamie Lee found herself suppressing a major case of the grins thinking of the conversation Jacinda had told her about. She hadn't had to, after all, talk her sister into anything. The scheming children had done it all on their own and hadn't even realized it.

They had picked one another. It was against tradition to do such a thing, but Spock saw no reason to not allow it. And Jacinda had melted at the thought that her daughter already knew her mind. Though T'Nora was adhering to Vulcan norms, she had turned custom on its ear and bent it to her will. That was that girl, through and through, from the time she was old enough to speak. She would do things her way and that was all.

Once the ceremony was over, both clans, T'Nary'Orlon and S'Chn T'Gai, ratified the young people's union in their halls of record.

Soon afterward, however, the families were called to Earth. Their grandfather, Joseph Sisko was very ill and he was asking for them all to come to him.

###

**Earth-Days Later**

Jami e Lee was sitting in the hospital waiting room. She was still uncomfortable but doing much better than she had been when she was in Vulcan's heat days before. It was her first time back on Earth for the first time in almost three years. Her twins, four year old boys, had fallen asleep snuggled up on either side of her, their curly heads resting on the swell of her nearly eight month pregnant belly.

Her oldest boy, Jachus, at on the other side of the room, his head close together with his cousin, T'Nora, as they read from a PADD together. Jachus would grin from time to time and it struck Jamie Lee, not for the first time, the irony of the boy's nickname, 'Jake'. He looked nothing like her cousin Jake, was all Rekar in face, body and hair, but he had Jake's personality to a 'T'.

Rekar and Jacinda's husband, Talon, were off to the side speaking with one another. Talon's parents had come, as well, and they were speaking quietly with Jacinda on the opposite side of the room. Jamie Lee had to admit, Talon's parents had done as promised and stepped up for them both.

The original Jake himself walked into the hospital waiting room, then. He saw everyone and tried to put on a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Hey everyone," he greeted. He kept in very regular contact with both families and visited on a regular basis, so he already knew all of the children very well.

"What's happened today?" he asked. "I was here yesterday, but I went home to grab some sleep." He ruffled Jachus' hair and gently tugged on the end of T'Nora's braid in greeting. Both children greeted him in their unique way, the boy laughing a little and the girl greeting him seriously with a formal, "My cousin." But there was a half smile on her face.

"Aunt Judith is in with his doctors now," Jacinda said as she went to her cousin's side and gave him a huge hug.

After returning Jacinda's hug, Jake greeted Rekar, Talon and then Talon's parents, then he went to the still sitting Jamie Lee and kissed her forehead. "Don't get up," he said seriously as he looked down at her stomach. "Again?" he grinned.

She grinned up at him. "Again."

He sat down next to her and took one of the sleeping twins off of the side of her stomach and held him close. Jachus may have come out looking exactly like Rekar, but the twins were a perfect blending of both parents. They had curly hair, very light brow ridges and café au lait colored skin that took on a slight green tinge anytime one of them got sick. "Is it a girl this time?" he asked Jamie Lee referring to her stomach.

"It's finally a girl," she grinned. "And by the way, congratulations. When are you and Korena getting married?" she asked about the Bajoran woman he had introduced his family to during a visit to Bajor a year before.

"We haven't settled on a date yet. We're going back to Bajor to see when her family would be willing to have the wedding, so we'll know then."

Nog showed up within ten minutes of Jake and gave his friend a good long hug. They hadn't seen one another in almost two years at that point, but he had always found his way to Joseph Sisko's restaurant whenever he was on Earth. Everyone was speaking with one another, but then a gradual hush fell over the waiting room.

Jamie Lee and Jacinda's parents, Jacob and Nirmala, walked in. They seemed to be shocked at the amount of people in the waiting room. It was a moment of high discomfort as they looked at all of the grandchildren they did not know. They couldn't tell whose child was whose. Immediately they assumed T'Nora was Jamie Lee's.

Talon's parents, T'Pima and Suvak, stepped forward and introduced themselves. "I am T'Pima," said his mother. "And this is Suvak. We are Talon's parents."

Their parents seemed stumped that the Vulcans had gone directly to them and spoken. "Hello," Jacob said haltingly.

Suvak was not a man of many words, but he knew what needed to be done next as he beckoned to his granddaughter. "Come, T'Nora. Meet your other grandparents."

They could see Nirmala struggling to not cry as the very proper little seven year old approached them. She was the spitting image of Jamie Lee at that age. She was slight and brown with large almond shaped eyes. Her hair was swept back in a long French braid and secured in the middle of her back with an ornate shell tie. Spilling from the end of the secured braid was a long abundance of silken spiral curls. "It is an honor to meet you," the little girl said as she met their expressions full on.

They didn't know what to think as they looked down at the little proper Vulcan version of one of their daughters and realized she was Jacinda's. They looked over at that daughter, then. Jacob swallowed tremulously as he saw that Jacinda still had a look in her eyes as if she were perfectly willing to not say one word to them.

They looked at Jake, then, holding a sleeping little boy that resembled him very strongly and the boy's twin was asleep on their other daughter's very pregnant belly.

Jake got up, then, and brought over the twin he was holding. He gave his aunt and uncle a kiss and hug each as he held the child between them. The boy squirmed and began to awaken a little. He gave his grandparents an accusing glare and then planted his face into Jake's neck, snuggled up and went back to sleep.

"This is Beren," said Jake. And he pointed over at the other twin, "And that's Ellesar." They both looked like they were in a daze as they stood there, looking back and forth at both boys. Jake then pointed at his namesake with a huge grin. "That one there, Jachus, we all call him 'Jake' after me. These are all Jamie Lee and Rekar's boys." He smiled as if years had not gone by since the couple hadn't spoken to the two girls. "She's finally having a girl now," he whispered.

Their Aunt Judith came out then. "He wants to see you all now."

"Everyone?" asked Jacob.

"Everyone."

###

Joseph Sisko lay in his hospital bed. His energy was spent. The operation from a month before had not been a success, after all and he knew he was dying. But he had had a long and well-lived life.

His family were now gathered all around him. His other son, Levi, had been to see him the day before and said his good-byes. He wasn't good with crowds of people, even if they were his family. They all understood. Levi Sisko just didn't function that way.

Joseph looked around the room at each of them. "My family," he half whispered falteringly, "so good to see you all together," he said as his eyes drifted between Jacob and Nirmala, then at Jamie Lee and Jacinda. "Family is family. Stay together. That's all."

He looked over at Judith, "Keep tabs on my restaurant, you hear? Jake will see to it, too. Levi will go in and cook on the weekends." He looked at Nirmala, "Don't be mixing in them southeast Asian spices with my stuff, Nirmala," he grinned weakly.

The woman who never cried had tears in her eyes. "You know you like them," she joked a little.

"I do." He seemed to backtrack. "Shux, just the curry. Add some curry dishes to the menu. The customers will like it."

Most of them laughed a little, but half of them were in tears already. He looked over at T'Pima and Suvak. "You two were good to my girls. You proved us wrong about so much. None of us expected it, but that's what we got. And that's what _we_ get for assuming. From the bottom of this flawed human heart, thank you for that."

"It was our honor," Suvak said in all truth.

He turned to Nog, "Keep on bucking those stereotypes, boy. You've gone far already. You'll keep going far."

Nog was only able to nod rapidly in response, unable to say one word, he was so close to losing it.

"To my great-grandchildren. Beautiful, beautiful children," he said as his eyes closed a little and he gathered his strength. "You will all go far. Listen to your parents, but when it's time to grow up, be your own people, you hear?" he asked as his eyes opened and he looked especially at T'Nora and then Jachus.

Both children nodded solemnly. "We promise," said Jachus sadly as he leaned back into Rekar and bowed his head.

Jospeh smiled up at Rekar. "You have been good to our Jamie Lee." He looked at Talon, "And you to our Jacinda. Both of you were good to our girls. It's been more than an honor to have you as kin."

Both men nodded as Talon said for them both, "It has been our honor, as well."

He looked at Jamie Lee and Jacinda then. "You two. Good girls. You were always good. You're good women now, good mothers, good professionals in your fields, never forget that. I want you cooking at the restaurant, though, whenever you get a chance to stop here on Earth. Whenever that is. I just want a Sisko in the kitchen," he complained on a tiny laugh and then began to cough a bit.

His eyes turned to Jake. "My Jake," he smiled weakly. "Take care of yourself and that beautiful fiancée. Have lots of children if you can, you hear?"

"Yeah, grandpa, I hear," he said as tears burned down his face.

"I only wish-" were Joseph's next words. But he didn't utter them. He sighed resignedly. "I thought I'd stopped wishing for that. But I guess a parent never would," he said almost to himself.

The door to the hospital room began to crack open slowly then. All of the Sisko's in the room gasped with wide eyes as Benjamin walked in, Kassidy at his side and an almost eight year old little Lisa snuggled up in his arms as if he had never left.

Jake was at his side immediately, being hugged by him and his little sister at the same time. "Dad," he sobbed into his chest.

"I'm here now," said Benjamin as he held his son close and ran a hand over his hair. "I'm not going anywhere again. Not for a long time." Just like the old days, he kissed Jake on his head and then looked down into his eyes with the hugest grin.

Benjamin made the rounds and hugged the sobbing hot mess that both Jacinda and Jamie Lee had become. He made sure to give Nog a good long hug as well.

He leaned over his father and kissed his face. "Dad, I came to see you off."

Joseph's face was now truly lined with tears. "I knew you might. I hoped you would, anyway."

"Don't worry about the restaurant," Benjamin joked. "I'll be in the kitchen every day from now on." The two men laughed lightly at that. "I feel like I just saw you yesterday," Benjamin whispered down to Joseph. "If it had been up to me, I would never have left."

"I know, son. I know." He finally breathed easily as he said, "I told those Prophets of yours… I saw them, you know, during my surgery last month. I said, 'Take me instead and give my boy back to his children.' I guess the answer was 'yes'."

Benjamin shook his head as he held in his grief and consternation. "You were always stubborn, old man."

Joseph's smile was half disappearing. "Just hug an old man, will you, son?"

Benjamin lifted his father up into a sitting position as he sat on his bed and hugged him close to his chest for one last time.

###

The day of Joseph's the funeral, the family got together later in the day at the restaurant for the wake. Jamie Lee was standing there holding Ellesar's hand. He was definitely a mama's boy and he almost never left her side. He was the one that gave his father 'looks' when he put his arms around his wife. It had happened on several occasions when he was just learning to talk. Rekar would sit with Jamie Lee, put his arm around her or hug her close and a little body would wiggle himself between them both declaring, "MY mommy!"

Rekar would grin down at the tiny face and declare, "MY wife!" Then he would tickle the boy until he screamed and laughed and their beef was done for the time being.

"Ellesar, why don't you go and see what your brothers are up to?" she asked her son that day.

He looked up at her, the question of, 'Are you sure?' in his face.

"Go ahead," she encouraged softly and let his hand go. He walked away from her almost timidly and went to where his brothers were eating and joined them.

Jamie Lee saw Jacinda coming toward her. The sisters stood together for a short time and looked over at where Benjamin was sitting next to Jake with little Lisa perched on his lap, Kassidy glued to his side. "I can't believe he came back," whispered Jacinda. "I couldn't sleep that first night for not believing he was back."

"Me either," Jamie Lee admitted. "It feels like a wonderful dream I've wanted for so long wrapped up in a horrible nightmare with grandpa gone. I'm afraid if I go to sleep, he'll leave again."

Jacinda swallowed back tears. "Yeah," she only just got out. And then they saw their parents coming toward them. "Oh brother," muttered Jacinda. Both girls were cautious as to what would happen next.

Jacob and Nirmala stood there with them for a few seconds as neither side said one word. Jacinda was still angry, but Jamie Lee just didn't know what to say. Nirmala then pointed at Jamie Lee's stomach. "How have you been feeling this time around?"

She almost smiled for a second, but this still felt strange. "Okay today. Sick usually, but-" she was going to say that when she felt ill, Rekar took good care of her and T'Pima sometimes came and took care of the children. But she didn't know if that was a good idea to mention that so casually to her mother. It should be easier than this, shouldn't it?

"It must have been hard for you girls having the babies with no one to help," said Nirmala, looking sorry about the past.

Jacinda shot out, "No! My mother-in-law T'Pima helped me when I had Nora. And when Jamie Lee went into labor with the twins, T'Pima and Suvak hauled it over to Romulus and took care of Jachus for an entire month!"

It was very obvious that Jacinda was still really angry with them. The four of them then stood there in an uncomfortable silence. Then Jamie Lee took Jacinda's hand. "It's okay," she whispered to her. She looked at her parents. "It's okay. We're going to be all right. It will take time, but it will be fine."

They saw that Jamie Lee had changed substantially. She seemed to have calmed down a great deal. They didn't know if being a mother or being married to Rekar had done that to her.

"How can you say that?" asked Jacinda, still angry.

She looked at her. "If there's anything I've learned from being in contact with Spock on a regular basis, is there's no use holding onto these things. Let it go."

Her parents stood there with them, terribly uncomfortable and silent as they watched the girls talk this out. "Why should they get off so easily?" asked Jacinda. "Why should I give them what they want so quickly?"

"It isn't for them," Jamie Lee said as she shook her head. "It's for you." She sighed deeply with a half smile. "Now if you will excuse me, I have yet another 'potato head' resting on my bladder. Nature calls."

##

The day after the funeral, Jamie Lee stood looking out at her boys playing with their cousin Jake on the lawn of the estate Rekar always rented when they went to Earth. Comfort and Bea had come over with lots of food so she wouldn't have to cook.

Little Lisa and T'Nora were pacing around the lawn together, conversing. Most of Bea's six children were there with her, only one, her daughter Bianca, had stayed behind at home. As for Bea, she was pregnant yet again and this time Comfort was holding her own child in her arms. The little girl had fallen asleep on the spot after having eaten lunch. Comfort was pregnant with her second child at that time, but not yet showing.

Jamie Lee went and sat down with Bea, Comfort and Jacinda. She could hear Koval, Letant and Rekar in the next room discussing the burgeoning chocolate trade on Romulus.

Talon and his parents had gone to the Vulcan embassy to visit with Ambassador Spock who had made a surprise visit to Earth.

Just as the ladies began to truly get into their conversation, they could hear the clomping footsteps and loud vocal protests of one of their children as they entered the house. "Mom!" Beren was shouting. "Jachus hit me in the head with a basketball and it made me fall down into the bushes!"

"It was an accident!" the older boy insisted as he chased behind his little brother.

Both boys seemed to be rushing into the room to tell their side of the story. The little four year old Beren's curly hair was in a crazy tangle since he didn't like to have it combed. There also happened to be leaves and twigs hanging out of it.

"Boys," said their father as he stuck his head in the room. "I told you not to bother your mother for now."

"But dad-" Beren went to protest.

Just as Rekar was about to make both boys leave the house, Bea's sixteen year old boys both entered then, also complaining, "Mom! Bretant punched me in the head!"

"I did not!" his twin insisted.

Letant was the one, then, chastising, "Boys, I told you not to add additional stress to your mother while she is pregnant. And think of your aunt Jamie Lee, too!"

"But they're _always_ pregnant!" protested Lentak.

"Oh my goodness," Comfort shook her head. "Is this what I have to look forward to?" she asked Jami e Lee.

"I'm afraid so."

"Isn't it so worth it?" Bea asked Jamie Lee.

She nodded, happy, as she looked out at all of her family and friends that had come over that day. "It sure is."

* * *

_A/N - I want to thank everyone who came along on this ride with me and enjoyed themselves. This story was made to lift my spirits and I guess it kind of worked! I'm ready to go back to my other stories._

_I wanted several things at the end of this story to be okay but other things to still be in tatters a little with the hope that they might get better (or might not) for all parties involved, meaning the situation with the parents. That, I've learned, is just life._


End file.
